


Truce (Smopkins #1)

by slusher (aesoprock)



Series: Truce [1]
Category: Bully (Video Games)
Genre: Detention, Enemies to Friends, Happy Volts, Implied Sexual Content, Love/Hate, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Institutions, Mentioned Abuse, No Smut, Series, Sickfic, Slow Burn, Trauma, after the bell tower fight, gary has issues, gary needs help, its just leading up to it, they dont get together in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 27,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23345485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesoprock/pseuds/slusher
Summary: gary is released from happy volts, and crabblesnitch lifts his expulsion as long as he can abide by the rules.what happens when he returns to jimmy's turf?(part 1/2)published 3/27/20 - 4/19/20
Relationships: Jimmy Hopkins/Gary Smith, Jimmy Hopkins/Trent Northwick (past), Jimmy Hopkins/Zoe Taylor (past), Pinky Gauthier/Jimmy Hopkins (past)
Series: Truce [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1679089
Comments: 220
Kudos: 61





	1. Good Behavior

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is my first time writing smopkins or anything from the bully fandom so i hope yall like it
> 
> i'm editing as i go so if my update schedule is wack i am sorry and i apologize
> 
> this fanfiction is also on wattpad by the same name if you prefer wattpad to ao3. my username is @herbert_garrison
> 
> there will be one more story after this one where the story is continued. they do not get together in this one.

“Smith?” the woman called out. “Gary Smith?”

It was deep into the night, and all the noises had died down from the other patients. Gary knew exactly why- the sleeping pills had kicked in. They kicked in around the same time every night. The pills Happy Volts put their patients on were strong, and Gary suspected that the orderlies drugged everyone up so they wouldn’t have to do their job. This was when Gary did his thinking, since it was the only time his fellow patients stopped throwing temper tantrums. Escaping Happy Volts was his main focus at the moment, but there were other things he thought about. They weren’t as important, though.

He wasn’t sure why this woman was calling for him. Gary knew it was about time for a random search, but if that was the case, why did the woman need to wake him up? Then it hit him- she wanted to see if he was awake. To see if he was taking his pills. He shut his eyes and played dead, knowing there was no way she would be able to tell if he was faking. Her voice sounded like it came from down the hallway, so she couldn’t have seen him. He knew the woman was an orderly, there was no way another patient was calling for him in the middle of the night. The only patient he could think of that would call for him in their sleep would be Michelle, who had nightmares, but this sounded nothing like her. Plus, why would she call out his last name first? It sounded like she was… searching for him. Was she having trouble finding his room?

The woman stepped in front of his door and looked through the window at him. He could make out her white, fluorescent face through the bars, and he heard the jingle of keys. Yes, it had to be a check. Was this his chance to break out? He could win if they came into some type of struggle, but Gary was confident that he could run fast enough to avoid it anyway. The only issue with getting out this way was that he would need to be on the run forever. Gary’s preferred way of escaping had to be legal, because that meant he would never have to come back to this wretched place. Sure, Happy Volts had slowly grown tolerable as he learned to adjust to things and get out of their stupid rules, but he still detested it. The state of New Hampshire sent inspectors every week, and Gary wondered if Happy Volts only got better for him because of them.

It started smelling better after the inspectors came, anyway.

“Gary Smith,” she repeated, leaving the key inside of his door as she moved further into his room. Was he supposed to be waking up now? Asking her what the problem was? The orderly reached out and touched him. It was only on the arm, but it was still disgusting. He squirmed underneath his pajamas and opened his eyes, sitting up. 

“What?” Gary snapped, sitting up straight. What would they ever need him for? Did a family member die? Gary hoped so. He got out of Happy Volts for funerals and other “family occasions,” and as much as he hated being around his family, he hated this shit-stain of a place even more.

She gasped, lifting her hands up to her mouth. “I didn’t mean to startle you, I just wanted to wake you.”

Gary sighed and shook his head. “Sorry,” he lied. Gary paused, sizing her up once again, although she might’ve interpreted it another way. “Is it a room check?”

“No. I’ve got good news for you,” she smiled. It only occured to Gary at that moment to look at her nametag. Shelia. She was stupid, which meant she had to be new. “You’re being released on good behavior, and someone’s here to pick you up.”

Gary watched her, astonished. It was that easy? Good behavior? Gary’s behavior had been anything but good. He sucked up to the orderlies, sure, but there were tons of things he could have easily been caught doing. Like not taking his sleeping pills, for instance. He found that the pills made him groggy and brought his mood down, so it was only common sense to not take them. No matter how hard the orderlies and staff pressed it into his skull, he knew this place wasn’t trying to help him “recover.”

“Come on,” she urged him. He stood up and walked to the door with her, the weight of his body disappearing. 

Gary made his way down the hall with the orderly, and he stood with his head held high, his chest out. This was everything he’d wanted for the past two months. Two long, miserable months of staring out of the small industrial window in his room that wouldn’t break or come apart no matter how hard he tried. Two months of strategizing and brainstorming plans to get himself out of this place. Two months of eating food that tasted like vomit. And after all that torment, he was being brought out on good behavior. Who would’ve known sucking up to the orderlies would pay off in the end?

He had never been religious. In fact, he was a self-proclaimed Atheist, ever since the first week of third grade. But as the woman escorted him out of Happy Volts into the cold winter night, Gary believed again. Not in God, but in something else. Anything else. Whatever force had gotten him out of this place. He was alive again, feeling the brittle coldness on his skin, the gravel poking his feet from underneath the cheap blue hospital socks everyone was forced to wear to reduce foot fungus. Gary would never have to wear those again. Never in his life.

And the scrubs? The grainy, itchy scrubs that rubbed all over his skin as he walked? Gary could burn them, if he wanted to. He was out of that place, and he wouldn’t need them again.

The orderly had brought him to a car in the parking lot, a car that was still running and had its headlights on. Gary was not excited to see his dad, but he wasn’t dreading it, either. He was going home. Sure, school was still in session, but there was no way he was going back to Bullworth. He had been expelled back in November, and he knew that if he had to face Jimmy one more time, he’d be right back in Happy Volts all over again. Or possibly jail.

Before Gary opened up the passenger’s side door, the woman smiled at him one last time. “Your father already checked you out in the office. Remember to take your pills,” she told him, before turning and heading back into the asylum. He smiled at her, although he had no reason to. Only maintaining his “good behavior.” Gary loved it. He repeated it in his head as he opened the door and sat down on the soft, cushioned seat of his father’s Toyota Corolla. 

“Son!” his father greeted him, slapping him forcefully on the back. He returned his hand to the steering wheel, where it rested before. So they were playing nice today? Good son, good father? “It’s finally nice to see you again. Your mother will be thrilled to see you this Saturday.” Gary shivered at the thought of his mother. The only thing that would be worse than seeing her was being back in Happy Volts.

Gary turned to look at him, putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Saturday? It was Thursday. So he wasn’t going home, but he knew it wasn’t Bullworth. Maybe there was some kind of additional inpatient hospitalization he had to complete to make sure he was actually mentally sane. Gary knew he could handle that, as long as he would be getting out in the next week. Any longer and he wasn’t sure. “Nice to see you too, Dad,” he forced out, trying to sound enthusiastic. “Saturday?”

“Well, you won’t believe this, son.” His father put out his cigarette on the ashtray he’d set on top of a vacant cup holder. “I’ve spoken to the Headmaster at Bullworth. He agreed to take you back under… certain conditions.” Gary felt his father’s eyes boring into him, and there it was- that hint of you’d better fucking behave, boy, or I’ll send your ass right back to Happy Volts. Where you belong, after pulling a stunt like that.

He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, propping his elbow onto the edge of the window and staring out at the hospital. “What are the conditions?” he said through gritted teeth. Whatever those conditions were, he’d be breaking them. Gary hoped he would only get sent to another school in the area instead of Happy Volts again. He knew his father wouldn’t like that, though. He was under the impression that Bullworth was the best for his academic education, but Gary knew that was outright Bull-shit, and so did everyone else in the school. The school was filled with hoodlums, roaming the schoolyards and hallways like greasy rats looking for a dead body to gnaw on. 

Like Jimmy Hopkins, Gary thought pessimistically, watching the distance from Happy Volts grow further and further away. His father pulled out onto the road.

“Well, for one, Dr. Crabblesnitch hopes that this new medicine Dr. Scheumer put you on will help with your… issues,” he begins. Ah, yes. The fucking Zoloft. Gary hadn’t been taking any of that either, back at the hospital. For each patient, the staff would fill a small paper cup with whatever pills you were prescribed. Gary didn’t take any of them. He knew what the sleeping pills looked like- they were round and white. The rest of the pills Gary couldn’t identify, so he neglected to take those too. He didn’t need to be jacked up on pills. Before the scene with Jimmy at the bell tower, he was on tons of medications, and how did that end up working out for him?

His father turned to look at Gary, but Gary didn’t reciprocate. He set his eyes back on the road, because he was driving. Gary suddenly wished they would crash. No more Bullworth, no more Happy Volts, no more parents. No more Dr. Crabblesnitch. No more anything. “He also wants you to apologize to that Jimmy boy.”

Fuck. 

“And no more violent altercations with students. But you can handle that. I know you can. You’re strong.” His dad looked at him again. “My son.”

Gary hated how much his father sounded like Dr. Crabblesnitch. And to think that he almost had Crabblesnitch on his side. But that fucking Jimmy Hopkins, well, he had to ruin everything. He knew he would not be apologizing to him anytime soon.

Gary predicted that his stay at Bullworth wouldn’t last very long.


	2. Bullworth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to the one person reading this!
> 
> you the man (or woman idk)

When Gary’s father pulled into the school’s parking lot, Dr. Crabblesnitch was already standing at the gate. Gary got out of the car and slammed the door shut without a word, walking over to the man. He got his very own personal escort to the boys’ dorm! What a lucky day.

“I take it that you’ll start behaving this time around, Mr. Smith?” 

Didn’t this man have a life? Kids to take care of? A house to come home to every night? Or was his only joy in life patrolling Bullworth? Gary looked up at the man and narrowed his eyes. “It should be that hoodlum Jimmy Hopkins you’re worried about. Not me,” he said stiffly, walking side-by-side with Crabblesnitch as they made their way back to the dreaded boys’ dorm. The boys’ dorm wouldn’t be nearly as bad if Jimmy weren’t in it. But of course, Gary had a sneaking suspicion that Jimmy would be avoiding him. Or would he? Would Jimmy be ready for him? Waiting, even?

No. Jimmy was under the impression that he was locked in Happy Volts for good. Maybe Gary could run away from Bullworth instead, it wasn’t like he didn’t already have extensive planning from his “vacation” to Happy Volts. Gary was only entertaining his fantasies at this point, because no matter how good he thought his plan was, it wouldn’t work. Technology was too good these days. They would find him in no time, and he knew that.

“Well, whatever you say, boy. Personally, I admire Jimmy,” Crabblesnitch replied. Gary already knew how Crabblesnitch felt about Jimmy, and him as well. He didn’t need to be reminded. “I’ll give you a pass tonight, but by tomorrow morning I expect you to be in uniform,” he said as they walked up the few steps to the dorm. Why were those steps there in the first place? They were useless, and unnecessary. It was almost as if Bullworth hated crippled people. Not that Gary cared for them himself, or anybody, for that matter.

Crabblesnitch led him to his new dorm, because for some reason Gary’s old one was “occupied.” He wasn’t sure why parents were rushing to get their kids into Bullworth. It was considered the third worst in the state, but Gary figured the uniforms made people fall for it. It gave them the impression that maybe their idiot children could achieve something if they weren’t wearing clothes of their own.

Ugh, the uniforms. Gary could imagine himself waking up early the next morning and pulling that stupid teal sweater over his head. Or would he have to buy new ones from town? Gary wasn’t sure where any of his possessions were, and he had no faith that he would get them back. Maybe they were in a locker somewhere in Happy Volts. Maybe his father had them. The only item he truly cared about was his phone, but he could live without it. He had for two months straight- what’s another year without it?

“‘Kay,” he murmured, looking around wearily for anyone that might be awake to see him. The only people Gary was looking out for were Jimmy and Petey, but he could deal with Petey. Naturally, Petey would tell Jimmy that he was back, but Gary wasn’t sure what would happen from there. He prayed Jimmy didn’t confront him first. If the two were to talk at all, Gary wanted it to be on his terms. He wanted to be on guard. 

Fear settled deeper into Gary’s gut as Crabblesnitch led him down the hallway. This was Jimmy’s hallway, the hallway Jimmy’s dorm was in. Why did Crabblesnitch think moving him closer would help? Or was it true that his new room was the only vacancy?

A thought came to Gary suddenly, and he found this one the most troubling of all: he was taking Jimmy’s room. Jimmy was gone.

No, that wasn’t right. Crabblesnitch had referred to him in the present tense, as if he were still here. Still in this school. So he had to be. Gary wasn’t taking his room, because he was in there sleeping or making out with some girl.

Crabblesnitch took him to the room right across from Jimmy’s. Gary cringed as he turned in the direction of Jimmy’s room, expecting to see his door shut. It was wide open, but Crabblesnitch didn’t seem concerned with this. In fact, he hadn’t noticed it at all. “Get in your room, boy. Get some rest. I don’t know what they did to you in that place, but you’ll need to recover.”

Gary looked up at him, giving him yet another strange look. What did they do to him in Happy Volts? Well, they drugged him up and kept him locked up in a room, only allowed to get out for food or showers. But Gary stopped taking the pills, and…

Jimmy was not in his room. There was no lump on his bed, no figure hunching over the desk, Jimmy was gone. Where was he?

“Jimmy’s not in his room, Dr. Crabblesnitch. Maybe you should go find him. I would hate to see your favorite student get caught up in something… drugs?” Gary suggested, moving into his new dorm room. 

Crabblesnitch muttered a few curses under his breath as he turned and disappeared somewhere down the hallway. Gary smiled to himself as he shut the door and tore his itchy scrubs off of his body. He laid down and smiled even wider. Fresh bed sheets, finally. It was like they didn’t believe in hygiene back at Happy Volts. 

He wrapped himself in his new covers, staring up at the ceiling. Gary was free now, and he’d started off his second time at Bullworth by ratting out Jimmy. Could it get any better?

No, Gary thought to himself as he turned on his side and shut his eyes, beginning to doze off. It couldn’t get any better. He knew everything was going to turn to shit from here on out, but Gary decided to enjoy this feeling while it lasted.


	3. Crabblesnitch

“Jimmy,” Petey whispered from a distance. Petey knew that Jimmy wasn’t anywhere near waking up, so he moved closer and shook his arm gently. “Jimmy. You need to get dressed.”

This was how things went every morning, with the exception that Jimmy had a meeting with Dr. Crabblesnitch today. It had been a while since he made an appearance in his office, the last time being the fiasco with Gary, but all of that was over now and Jimmy was thankful. The meeting was probably going to be about how he snuck out the night before, and Jimmy wasn’t too thrilled to be in trouble again. He’d gone so long without getting caught for anything, it felt abnormal to get in trouble for something he did all the time.

Jimmy woke up, turning onto his back and rubbing his eyes. “Goddamn it, Petey,” he mumbled, turning his blanket over and looking around for his clothes. Or… had he even changed out of his uniform last night?

He had changed after all, and his uniform was hanging off of the chair in front of his desk. His desk- yeah, right. Like he used that damn thing. The most use he got out of his desk was throwing his dirty clothes on top of it whenever he felt like being a little tidy and getting them off of the floor, but that was it.

Jimmy stood up and pulled his shirt off, throwing it lazily in the corner of his room before pulling his uniform over his head. He started to get dressed, still slightly dazed from the lack of sleep. He was going to have an all nighter with Zoe in town last night, but of course, someone spoiled that for him. Someone ratted.

-

He watched the passing faces as he walked to the main building. Some people greeted him, and others were too distracted to notice him. The grogginess had passed, and now Jimmy was completely awake and alert. Someone had ratted on him, and for no good reason, either. Didn’t they know that he was in charge of this school? He had established that the moment he threw Gary into Happy Volts and claimed Bullworth for himself. But someone in this school wasn’t quite getting it, and Jimmy was determined to find out who.

Jimmy found himself in front of the main building. It was such a shame he had a meeting with Crabblesnitch, because he could be out in his beach house or in town right now doing whatever the hell he wanted. It was cold, but it was still a nice day, and if he wanted to leave he knew that nobody would stop him. If Crabblesnitch had a problem, Jimmy could make excuses. He could lie. It wasn’t hard. Sorry, sir, I overslept. The only people who knew he was lying wouldn’t dare speak up about it, either. Petey had been loyal so far, and only a few people had seen him outside of the boys’ dorm.

He entered the building, knowing that he shouldn’t put the meeting off. The longer he avoided it, the more pissed off Crabblebitch would be with him. He might as well take it now, while he might get out of a punishment easily. Crabblesnitch liked him, so Jimmy knew whatever would come out of this wouldn’t be too bad.

Jimmy walked through the lobby and up the stairs, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. He knew that he was being cocky, but it didn’t matter. Bullworth stayed under his control for two months, and he would find out who the snitch was soon. Everything was still running smoothly.

Standing outside of Crabblebitch’s office, Miss Danvers noticed him immediately. “Jimmy, don’t waste his time. You know, he’s a really busy man.” She paused. “A brilliant man.”

Jimmy scoffed, disgusted at the hinting of whatever relationship the two of them held. He twisted the doorknob. It was locked. “Yeah. Brilliant man alright,” Jimmy huffed, letting his hand drop back down to his side. What else could he be doing?

Dr. Crabblesnitch opened the door for him, and Jimmy could see that there was someone else in the room. Crabblesnitch backed up to welcome Jimmy inside, and that’s when he saw him. 

“...Gary?”

Jimmy wanted to strangle himself with the slingshot that was crammed into his left pocket, but he knew behavior like that would only send him into Happy Volts too. He glared at Gary, hoping that this wouldn’t be permanent. Gary belonged in that ward with all of the other psychos. Why was he out? Had he manipulated all of the staff and the orderlies, or was Gary just here temporarily, to “make amends?” Jimmy was now coming to realize that he was the only person who really knew the extent of Gary’s mental illness. He was a victim of it himself. But Crabblesnitch had been, too. Didn’t he remember?

The only explanation that made sense was Gary’s parents bribing their son’s way back into Bullworth. Jimmy didn’t know if Gary’s parents were rich or not, but it made sense that they were.

He stepped inside, but lingered near the door, not wanting to be any closer to Gary than he had to be. The crazy thing was, Gary was smiling at him. Almost like he was daring him to sit down in the chair next to him. He was wearing a uniform, too, the same strange green-teal vest that he always used to wear. Jimmy didn’t even think they sold them in New Coventry or Old Bullworth Vale, but it’s not like he looked for it extensively, either. Gary had been the last thing on his mind for the past month or so. 

Gary seemed rough, as you’d expect anyone who spent two months in a mental asylum to look. He looked as if someone drained all of the blood from his face and gave him an extensive liposuction. He wasn’t completely skin and bones, but, well…

“Hopkins, take a seat,” Crabblesnitch said, crossing the room to take his own seat behind his desk. Jimmy didn’t move a muscle. He wasn’t sitting anywhere near that sociopath.

Gary stared at him, tilting his head to the side. “Come on, Jimmy boy. I don’t bite.” The smile returned, sending cold chills down his spine. He hated when Gary called him that. Jimmy boy. He wanted to beat Gary’s ass right then and there, and the only thing stopping him was Crabblesnitch. 

“No, I’m fine here, thanks,” he said back, his voice unyielding. Jimmy crossed his arms and looked at Dr. Crabblesnitch. “You want me to make up with him? Fine, we can do that, but don’t be surprised if someone ends up dead.” Jimmy casts a glare at Gary. “And don’t try to say you’re sorry, I won’t fall for it. Both of us know sociopaths don’t feel remorse.”

Nobody spoke for a while. Crabblesnitch broke the silence. “Jimmy, you know we don’t talk about other students like that,” he warned, his eyebrows rising high up on his ugly, wrinkled face. “Smith is taking his medication and he’s getting better. I know things have been rocky between you two, but I expect no trouble with either of you this semester. You hear me, boys?”

Jimmy glared at him, his arms folded over his bulky chest. “Yeah, I hear you.” He looked at Gary, almost pitying him. “I’m really sorry that we had a rocky relationship,” he started, leaning over to get in Gary’s face, “but I really do hope whatever drugs you’re taking help your twisted, fucked up brain.” He smiled, offering out a hand. “Friends?”

He was surprised to find that Gary didn’t react to this, at least not verbally. Gary’s loathing glare only intensified as Jimmy continued to insult and mock him. He didn’t say anything back, and he didn’t reach out to shake Jimmy’s hand. He only stared, and Jimmy felt totally unnerved by it, only to be relieved when Crabblesnitch spoke again.

“Detention. Both of you,” he muttered, standing up and pressing a hand to his forehead. “You’re going to learn some trust-building exercises with Miss Danvers.” Nobody spoke. Jimmy was only frustrated that Crabblesnitch gave him a detention for refusing to get along with Gary. Did he remember what happened? He could’ve died! Hell, Gary could’ve died too, but it was his fault they were in that situation in the first place.

“And Hopkins?” Crabblebitch went on, compensating for the empty space. “If you don’t show up, there will be something worse. Much worse, I can assure you.” Jimmy knew there were worse things in the world to endure than a detention, but he wasn’t sure if Crabblesnitch was just trying to intimidate him this time, or if he really did have something up his sleeve.

Crabblesnitch looked at the both of them. “Get out. Out of my office, now. I am dismayed by your behavior, Hopkins. I expected you to be better than that.”

He didn’t have to tell Jimmy twice. Jimmy left the office without another word, passing Miss Danvers on his way out. She watched Gary as he followed behind Jimmy, deep in thought.


	4. Detention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short one for today sorry

Detention was uneventful for Jimmy. The two of them sat on opposite sides of Mr. Slawter's classroom as Miss Danvers tried to coax some conversation out of them, but it didn't work. Jimmy and Gary were both way too stubborn to say anything, and Miss Danvers gave up on the endeavor halfway through detention and let the two of them sulk in silence until it ended.

From the corner of Jimmy’s eye, he could tell Gary was sneaking glances at him. Jimmy decided to play dumb. He kept his eyes fixed on the window to his left, his elbow propped up on the vandalized desk in front of him, wondering what would happen now that Gary was back in Bullworth.

So, Miss Danvers' shitty attempt at group therapy with the school sociopath and the school delinquent didn't go the way she wanted. Who would've known?

When detention was finished, they walked back to the boys’ dorm in silence. Jimmy thought Gary would be going to dinner now, but he was surprised when the two of them got down to the lobby and Gary didn’t split for the cafeteria. Did Happy Volts turn Gary anorexic, or was he just trying to annoy Jimmy by following him? He wanted to go back to the dorm and talk to Petey- in private- but he decided to say something to Gary anyway. It was time to set the record straight.

"Hey." It wasn't a very good start. Jimmy was still thinking of what to say. Gary turned to look at him, and there was a sliver of hope in his eyes. What did Gary have to hope for?

Oh no. Oh hell no. He wanted to be friends again?

"Volts turned you anorexic?"

The hope was replaced with disdain. "No, I'm going to town. Not everything is about you, Jimmy boy." Gary smiled and edged closer to him, and Jimmy backed away. Gary always had a weird thing for touching people- Jimmy specifically- putting his arm around him, touching his shoulders. Jimmy wondered if his parents neglected him so much that touching him was the closest he would get to comfort. 

Jimmy knew, though, that Gary just liked touching him, because it pissed him off. It made Jimmy’s skin crawl, and that was obvious. Hiding his emotions was easy around any other person, but not Gary. He was the type of person that knew how to get under your skin.

"Listen, Gary," Jimmy started. He wanted to lay some ground rules. "First, don't touch me. Don't even get close to me." Gary’s facial expression remained unchanged, so he went on. Reading him was difficult. "Second, I'm not gonna be friends with you, and that's obvious. But don't get in my way, and if you happen to make some miserable friendship somewhere in this school, I won't ruin it for you. I know you don't have anyone else."

Gary smiled at him, and Jimmy smiled back mockingly. All of those things were true. If anyone willingly decided to be friends with Gary, it was only natural selection, and Jimmy wouldn't get in the way of it. "Third, I don't want any more detentions, especially not with you. So stay away from me, and stop fucking ratting on me. Nothing I do is your business." It only made sense that Gary was the one to see Jimmy out of his dorm last night. Jimmy wasn't sure how long he'd been in Bullworth, but it couldn't have been too long that he'd gone unnoticed. 

Jimmy turned down the path to the boys’ dorm and finally parted ways with Gary. Gary didn't say anything the whole time Jimmy spent talking. He figured that either meant Gary didn't care, or he was going to go out of his way to get up Jimmy’s ass and annoy him for his next few months in Bullworth. Jimmy pushed the front door open and stepped inside, making his way to Petey's dorm. From now on, he would need to have his eyes opened like a hawk, or else that weasel Gary was going to get in his way somehow. 

That was it. What else could Gary have been planning? He wanted to take back Bullworth.


	5. Gary

A few days had passed, and it was finally Saturday. Gary had decided to leave Jimmy alone for the rest of the school week, after their detention. He'd been through enough from Crabblesnitch's meeting and detention with Miss Danvers alone, so why not lay low for a bit? Why not give him some time to think that Gary was actually going to abide by his "ground rules?" But both Jimmy and Gary knew it; he wasn't going to. Jimmy had nothing on him. The worst he could do was get Gary expelled, but that didn't matter. He was planning on doing it himself.

In order to get expelled and sent to another school, Gary figured he would need to do something that couldn't be classified as "sociopathic behavior." The doctors in Happy Volts diagnosed him with so many things, but the only part Gary was worried about was antisocial disorder. They weren't legally allowed to diagnose a 15 year old boy with a cluster B disorder, but they went ahead and did it anyway. That disorder was the most "violent" one, as far as he was concerned, and he didn't want to do something violent and get sent back to Happy Volts. It had to be something else. Gary wanted a new school, not a new mental asylum.

Things had gone fine during his first week. He pretended to take his pills, he pretended to get along with Jimmy near the staff (which meant avoiding him). Nothing that could get him suspended. But it was Saturday afternoon, and Gary had spent the entire morning with his parents, as his dad had promised. Naturally, he came back to Bullworth a little fidgety and on edge. What better time to mess with the dear boy Jimmy Hopkins? But the thing was, Gary had no clue what he was doing. There was really nothing he could do to get suspended that wasn’t violent or against the law. 

Jimmy was in the perfect spot; right in the common room with Petey. There was no way that he was going inside of his bedroom to mess with him. Who knew how many girls he would have in there? Gary stood behind the couch for a moment, stopping to think. Neither of them had seen him yet, but he still had no plan. This made him uneasy- he needed a plan. 

"Jimmy boy!" Gary cried with forced enthusiasm. He walked in front of the couch and wedged himself in between Petey and Gary, wrapping his arm around Jimmy's broad, stiff shoulders. Gary always wondered why his body was so hideously disproportionate, but he figured it had something to do with inbreeding on one side of the family. "It's so nice to see you again," he went on, his face edging closer to Jimmy’s. Gary knew he hated being touched, but that just made it more fun. Jimmy and Gary were so close that their legs were touching, and Gary was almost on top of both Petey and Jimmy, if it hadn't been for Petey scooting away and closing what little room he had left on the other side of the couch.

Jimmy didn't move a muscle. Gary turned. "Oh, and Petey! It's great to see you guys again, I missed you sooo much," Gary exaggerated. Neither of them spoke. Petey only stared at him with a semi-horrified look on his face, and Gary had the feeling that he’d interrupted something. There was no way they were romantically involved, so he assumed it was a conversation. About him. Gary was glad that Jimmy was making plans, because it meant that he was at least a little afraid of him. 

"Uh, h-heyy, Gary," Petey said with the same forced enthusiasm, although he sounded small and sheepish. He sounded that way all the time, though, even if he was being genuine.

Jimmy wasn’t putting up an act, though. "What do you want, Gary?" he groaned, pushing Gary’s leg away from his and closer to Petey. This only made Gary move back toward Jimmy, closer this time. The more Jimmy resisted, the worse it would get. 

"I only wanted to talk to my two best friends in the whole world, is that so much to ask? Even Crabblesnitch knows how well we get along." Gary glanced at Petey, and that semi-horrified look remained. What the hell was wrong with him?

Petey and Jimmy weren't gay. No, not together. Maybe Petey was gay, he certainly acted like it, but Jimmy wasn’t. There were rumors, but he always had a girl. Gary didn’t know if Jimmy was a cheater, but he didn’t care. 

Or should he care? Turning the girls against Jimmy was a good way to start his downfall...

Maybe Petey and Jimmy were gay, though. What if they had been talking about it and Gary interrupted them, and now they thought he knew about it? Well, whatever they were talking about at the time, Gary hadn't listened. He regretted that now, but there was no going back in time.

"Whatever, Gary. Just get off of me."

Gary made no moves to get off of Jimmy. Jimmy yanked his arm off of his shoulders and shoved him closer to Petey, which Gary didn't like, so he stood up. He turned around and stared at the both of them. What did Gary want? What did he come in here to do?

Oh, yeah. Annoy Jimmy. Well, he’d done that, but not well enough. "Are you so deprived of human touch that you need to sit on my lap for attention? Jeez, Gary."

Gary crinkled his nose in disgust. He hadn't been sitting on his lap, that was disgusting. Their legs were touching. That just shows you how far Jimmy will go to exaggerate. Gary couldn't think of anything else to say, so he looked at Petey, and got an idea.

"What? Petey does it all the time, and you like it." Gary wasn't sure any of that actually happened, but it was a shot in the dark, and if he hit, it would get them good. Gary turned away and started to walk to his dorm, assuming the conversation was over. It wasn't.

"What the hell are you talking about, Gary? You might have a thing for Petey, but I don't, and he doesn't have a thing for me, either."Gary turned back to look at them, and it sounded true enough. Gary never caught Jimmy in a lie before, though, so he couldn't be sure. 

"Whatever," Gary said dismissively, turning once again to go back to his dorm. "Self-denial is unhealthy, Jimmy." Stepping into his room, he closed the door and stood there for a while, trying to see if he could hear what they were talking about. 

Either they weren't speaking, or the walls were too thick. Gary punched the door impulsively, not caring if it gave anything away, and plopped down onto the bed. He kicked his shoes off as he thought about their reactions. 

Gary decided that they probably weren’t gay after all. There was just something else that they were hiding.

He turned on his side and stared at the plain white wall in front of him. No, they just hated him and wanted him to leave. That one made a lot more sense.


	6. Petey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive hit another depressive episode, just know that if i dont update in a while im laying in my bed listening to frank ocean

The next day, Gary had a short, unexpected visit. 

Gary was sitting in his room underneath the covers, thinking. His mind was back on Jimmy, and he was glad. With freedom- out of Happy Volts- Gary was able to focus on the one thing that mattered at the moment. The obvious course of action here would be to get revenge first, and then expelled after. It would be pretty hard to get revenge on him if they didn’t even go to the same school. Jimmy would then be relieved at Gary's expulsion, and probably mock him while he was gone, but little would he know that expulsion was what he wanted. A win for both of them? Gary didn't like that, but he knew there was no way Jimmy would miss him. Maybe it would have to be a win-win in the end.

There was a timid knock on Gary's door, and his first thought was a staff member. Checking if he was taking his pills, or getting along okay without constant nagging and warnings from the orderlies. Gary knew how to live his goddamn life, he knew how to take care of himself. He'd done it perfectly well before Happy Volts, and he could do it after Happy Volts, too. He wasn't a child. He just hoped it wasn’t Crabblesnitch. Maybe Mr. Galloway? He was the least annoying teacher.

"Come in!" he shouted, throwing his blankets off from over his head. Gary was sitting in the middle of his bed, his legs folded underneath each other. Criss-cross applesauce. He had thrown on his pajamas, he would be insane to still wear his uniform while he sat in bed on a Sunday- that was a white shirt and sweatpants he got from town. When he was thrown out of Happy Volts, he didn’t have any clothes besides scrubs. It was stupid, but he wasn’t going back to ask for them. Surely, that could be considered theft?

Petey opened the door and brought himself inside. "Um, h-hey." He stood in the doorway like an idiot. Gary was starting to loathe Petey. Stuttering? Seriously? Petey had no reason to be scared of him. It was Jimmy he was after.

"What?" Gary snapped, much like the way he did when the orderly had the nerve to touch him. While he was sleeping. It was only on the arm, but it was still disgusting. When it came to pissing Jimmy off, though, it was worth it. 

Petey carefully made his way to the center of Gary's room. Gary hadn't done much to the place, except for crumpling up the bedsheets and throwing his uniform up on the shelf in the closet. Gary's room was so painfully bare, and Petey looked like he was uncomfortable with it. "I need to talk to you," he said.

Gary rolled his eyes. Whatever it was, it wasn't good news. "Then talk."

"Jimmy, uh, he's gotten… sort of intense. You know. About… you," Petey started, and Gary wasn’t sure what this meant. Was he out for revenge too? It wasn’t a surprise. "He can't stop talking about you. He's really pissed off. I think you should stay away from him, uh, and watch out." Petey watched him with frightened eyes. "I'm on your side, just so you know."

"Oh yeah? What's he planning?" Gary was afraid that Jimmy had threatened Petey and that he wouldn't get to hear the plan. But if Petey really was on his side, maybe he would agree to protecting him. Playing both sides was smart for Petey to do, but dangerous… if Jimmy found out.

Was Petey even on his side in the first place? He had no reason to join Gary again, unless he hated Jimmy. Gary couldn’t think of any reason why Petey would turn against him.

Petey shook his head. "I can't say. I shouldn't be in here, um…"

"Yeah. You can say, because he’s not in here, moron. You think I’m going to tell him?” He paused. “Is he sending me back to Happy Volts?" he asked, his back suddenly straightening. "I'll kill him."

Petey only chewed his bottom lip before standing up and leaving the room. He shut the door and turned around, letting his back rest on the doorframe. 

Petey grinned. Gary truly was an idiot, and he gave him exactly what he wanted. Something to tell Jimmy.


	7. Happy Volts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short and kind of sucks balls but things are about to get good

Petey returned to his dorm, where Jimmy sat on the edge of his perfectly made bed. He was chewing on the nail of his thumb and staring down at the hardwood floor. Petey was grinning ear to ear, and Jimmy looked up at him as he sensed his presence.

"It worked," Petey said, sitting down next to Jimmy, although not too close. "He thinks I'm scared of you. He also mentioned Happy Volts, so uh, it’s probably best to get him back in there."

Jimmy grinned and slapped Petey on the back, hard, as a form of congratulation. "You're a good actor, huh?" he said, as if Petey were his son serving the lead role in a school play. His expression turned more serious again. "Why did he mention Happy Volts? Did you ask?"

Petey set his hands in his lap. "Well, he said he'd kill you if you tried to put him in there. But he's going to be paranoid now." 

He nodded in response, raising his hand to his mouth to chew on his nail again. Jimmy thought for a while before speaking again. "Okay, what would put him in there then? I mean, he's already started with the death threats, he can't be too far from doing something stupid again." Jimmy paused. "Any ideas?"

Petey shrugged. Although he was smart, he wasn't the best at creating elaborate plans to send his ex-best friend into a mental asylum. He wasn't that mad at Gary either, even if he'd done horrible things to Jimmy. But Jimmy had stuck by his side ever since Gary left, so he knew Jimmy was a good person…

And was sending Gary back into Happy Volts the best idea? It seemed that way to Jimmy, but Petey wasn't so sure of it himself. Upon his return, the worst thing Gary had done to both of them was interrupt a conversation and annoy them a little. He ratted Jimmy out for sneaking around with his girlfriend Zoe, but Petey wondered if Gary would actually be harmless. He was probably clinging to Bullworth like that was all he had left. 

Plus, Happy Volts… Petey hated just thinking about it. He wouldn't want to be in Happy Volts himself, and sending anyone into that place- even Gary Smith- seemed inhumane. He heard tons of stories, none from Gary himself, but from other people. 

He turned and watched Jimmy with a lowered sense of admiration. He wasn't so sure about Jimmy's plan anymore, but he wanted to stick by his side anyway. Petey would just have to think of ways to spoil Jimmy's plans… subtly.


	8. Sick

Jimmy sat in the common room on a Thursday morning, wondering where the hell Gary was.

He had his legs spread out on the couch as he stared up at the ceiling. The common room was empty, because class was in session, and Jimmy was surprised that he hadn’t seen Gary leave this morning. Did he run away, or stay out in town all night? Or, a better thought- what if his father sent him back to Happy Volts?

Groaning, Jimmy sat up and stared down the hallway, thinking about Happy Volts. He had a stomach ache from something he’d eaten recently, and he had a feeling it had to do with Edna spitting and coughing in the food. It wasn’t from today. He’d skipped breakfast, so it had to be from the day before. Dinner? 

Maybe Gary had poisoned him. Jimmy smiled to himself at his own ridiculous thought, knowing that nobody had seen Gary since Saturday evening. The last time they spoke to each other was when Gary tried sitting on his lap to piss him off. He had a way about getting underneath Jimmy’s skin, and he tried his hardest not to let it show. But sometimes he felt like no matter how he tried, Gary could see right through him. He had a way of manipulating people too, and Jimmy felt like that was the only reason he went along with Gary in the first place. The guy seemed annoying at first, but…

Jimmy stood up. He was wasting his time just thinking about Gary. Why lay around and wonder when he could actually do something? Jimmy thought of checking his dorm first, but he figured that if Gary was in there, someone would know. He would know. They slept in rooms right across from each other.

He left the common room and stepped into the hallway, in between Gary’s room and his own. Looking for him in town or in school would be a complete waste of time if he was here all along. Then Jimmy had a passing thought, one that Jimmy wasn’t sure he liked. What if Gary is dead?

Jimmy shook his head to himself. No, Gary couldn’t die. Well, he could. But how? Jimmy couldn’t imagine Gary killing himself, and he was too young to have a heart attack in the middle of the night or die of “natural causes.” Malnutrition? Gary had been looking a little thin and pale in Crabblesnitch’s office, but he knew well enough to feed himself, right?

Then he realized that Gary couldn’t be dead. Dead people fucking stink, not only because they shit themselves after they die, but because their flesh would just be... rotting. Jimmy’s hallway didn’t always smell particularly fresh, but they were in a building full of disgusting adolescent boys, so that was only to be expected.

This thought relieved him. They weren’t on good terms, that was obvious, but it would be devastating if he died.

Jimmy twisted the door handle and stepped inside. The thought of knocking didn’t even pass his mind, and he was glad that nobody was allowed to have locks on their door. The rule pissed him off when he was with someone in his own room, particularly Zoe, but he found his own ways to make sure nobody would be able to open his door.

Gary’s door came straight open. Jimmy saw him lying in his bed, definitely alive, yet asleep. Next to him on his dresser were a ton of dirty tissues strewn about, and bottles of medication. He was sick, sick enough to be bed bound for five entire days. There was no way he’d eaten anything. Nobody had seen him leave, and there weren’t any wrappers laying around… if he couldn’t be bothered to throw away his dirty tissues, he wouldn’t throw away food wrappers, either.

“Gary?” Jimmy called out stupidly. He knew Gary was right there, and he didn’t want to talk to him all that much, but he watched Gary shift around in his bed and eventually turn to face him. He looked miserable, as expected. The bags under his eyes weren’t as intense, because when he was stuck in bed all day, the only thing Gary could do was sleep.

Something Jimmy found odd was the fact that Gary looked scared. Scared for his life. What, did Gary think he was going to kill him? Now?

He took a few steps closer to Gary, spreading his fingers out and lifting his hands up to his head to show he was harmless. “Sorry. Thought you were dead, nobody’s seen you in forever.” That part was true. Jimmy heard people wondering where Gary was in the common room, and it kind of bugged him, until the night it all sunk in. Last night. Nobody cared enough about Gary to actually look for him, and that part was clear. Here he was, in his dorm, and it didn’t look like Gary had moved around at all in the past few days.

“I feel dead,” Gary croaks. Jimmy can hear the grittiness in the back of his throat and he suddenly feels bad for him. Mucus? 

Jimmy nods. “You look like you’re just about there, buddy. What is it? The flu?” he asks. Jimmy doesn’t know much about illnesses at all, but he knows the flu is the worst one. Well, he thinks it is.

Gary sits up a little and nods. “It’s B, which is worse. S-o-...” Gary paused to clear his throat, before speaking again. “So leave. Get the fuck out, unless you want it.” He glared at Jimmy, but Jimmy had a hard time taking it seriously. Gary sounded like shit, and his glare wasn’t nearly as effective when he looked like he couldn’t even stand up without his legs folding underneath him. 

“When’s the last time you’ve been out of your room?” Jimmy asked. He didn’t bother to hide his concern.

Gary slumped back onto his pillows and shut his eyes, taking a moment to think. He opened them again. “Monday morning. I went to the nurse.” Gary looked him up and down, which Jimmy found sort of surprising. He couldn’t be looking for a fight, not in his current state- and he didn’t have anything else on him. Not even in his pockets. So what was Gary looking for? “What do you want, Hopkins?”

The question caught him off guard, mostly because Gary’s voice came out suddenly stronger than before. It wasn’t as firm as his usual, defensive voice- but there was a generous amount there. He was still on guard after all. “You relying on the plaque on your teeth for nutritional value or somethin’?” Jimmy asked. He didn’t want to have to bring Gary food every day, but he also didn’t want to be partly responsible for his death if he didn’t end up doing so.

Gary continued to glare, and Jimmy could only grin. Gary was pathetic. “No.”

“So you’re eating something?”

Gary almost looked offended at Jimmy’s question. “No, I don’t want to puke everywhere and choke on it in my sleep.” His eyes traveled down to his blankets, and then back up at Jimmy. “What do you want?”

He took a deep breath. “You really are stupid, aren’t you? You have to eat if you want to get better.” He’s not sure why he’s telling Gary anything- he doesn’t think he’ll listen in the first place. “The pills aren’t going to get rid of the illness. They just ease the symptoms until your body gets rid of it.” Jimmy pauses. “So you have to eat, dumbass. If you don’t die from the flu, you’ll die from starvation anyway.”

Gary doesn’t seem affected by this at all. “Gee, thanks, Dr. Hopkins.” Jimmy finds himself wanting to just leave- there’s no way of pounding sense into him- but he feels like he needs to help. Gary has been inside his bedroom for nearly five days without a single thing to eat. There’s a water bottle on his dresser, which is good, but he’s still concerned.

“Okay. Whatever.” Jimmy shakes his head. “Not my fault if you die.” But he just stands there in the middle of his bedroom, unmoving. He wants to leave, but he can’t. Something about the way Gary is staring at him makes him stay right where he is.

Neither of them spoke for a while. “Okay,” Gary confirmed. “Not your fault if I die. So get out,” he threatened through gritted teeth.

Jimmy, once again, found Gary’s threats to be not threatening at all. “Fine. I’ll bring you food.” He turns to leave the room, adding something before he walks out. “But you owe me one.” 

He shuts the door before Gary can object and stands in the hallway, regretting his decision to enter Gary’s room in the first place. He should’ve just left him there.

But no. He just fucking had to wonder about Gary, didn’t he?

As he started walking, he forgave himself. Gary’s sudden absence was alarming, and if anything, he should’ve checked on him sooner. 

But Gary hadn’t been doing anything bad at all. Just laying in bed helplessly for a few days. Okay, not for days straight, because he had to have gone to the bathroom to get water and piss, but he hadn’t... left. 

He had to be planning something. Gary had told Petey that he wanted to kill him, and that episode in the common room on Saturday had to mean he was confident in his plan. 

So why was Jimmy offering to bring this guy food again?


	9. Jimmy

Gary found Jimmy in his presence way more than he felt was necessary. 

Gary wished that it was anyone else in the entire world that just decided to barge into his room one day without knocking. He wished that anyone else was bringing him food almost four times daily. It wasn’t even like Gary was eating much of it- he only ate on the off occasion that his belly growled or he felt like he could stomach something. Jimmy was the one that had to throw away everything he didn’t eat, and he wished that Jimmy would take a hint. He didn’t want him around. He didn’t want to be asked a million times a day if he felt better, if he was taking his medicine, if he was drinking water, if he felt nauseous, if he was cold… he dismissed Jimmy often, with the excuse that he wanted to go to bed or didn’t want to infect him. All lies. He just wanted Jimmy out of his fucking room. 

It was slightly endearing that Jimmy would take such measures to make sure his mortal enemy didn’t die of starvation, but it was getting out of hand. The one thing Gary wanted was a way to pass time, and he didn’t want Jimmy’s company, that was for sure. 

It was now Sunday, and he realized he had missed an entire week of school. Not that he missed being there. Gary found himself wondering where Petey was a lot of the time, though- if Petey was on his side, why wasn’t he the one checking on him? 

The one thing that Gary really needed was company. Sure, he wanted a distraction from the long, boring days, but he was lonely. He didn’t realize it, because when you’re alone for so long, it doesn’t feel like you’re alone. Gary just figured he was empty, and that was the end of it.

“Hey. I hope you’re feeling better,” Jimmy said absently as he laid down containers of food from the school cafeteria. Things were actually edible when Edna wasn’t cooking them, and thankfully that was the majority of the time. Bullworth was definitely horrible, but they had enough sense to rotate the lunch ladies’ shifts so that the disgusting woman who spat in their food wasn’t in charge of every meal. “You should start eating more, if you wanna get better.”

The truth was, Gary was feeling better. The never ending stream of snot that came from his nose had ceased a few hours earlier, and he was no longer dizzy and feeling like he was in a fever dream. He could probably get up and walk around a bit if he was careful. But Gary was still miserable, and he wore himself out by wondering if Jimmy was only doing this to keep a close eye on him while he isolated himself. It sure was a good excuse to be near him, wasn’t it?

“Yup,” Gary said quickly without much interest. He wanted Jimmy to leave and stay so badly at the same time, and he wasn’t sure what he would do either way. “I don’t want to eat more. I’ll puke. And someone will have to clean it up.” He stared at Jimmy, implying he would be the one to clean. 

“Gary, Edna left early this morning. She hasn’t been back.” Jimmy glared at him. “So suck it up and eat. You’ll be fine.” 

Gary scoffed and stared down at his bedsheets. Jimmy wasn’t a fucking doctor, and he definitely wasn’t his father. He wasn’t in charge of him at all, and he couldn’t make him do shit. “I don’t see why you even care.”

Jimmy leaned against the dresser, his eyes lingering on Gary as he thought of what to say. “Listen. I’m just trying to help you. I care, because, in case you haven’t noticed, nobody else does.” He crossed his arms and looked around the room as if there was someone else with them. “So, unless…” he started, his eyes back on Gary, “unless you just wanna… sit here and die, you need to eat. You look like a fucking praying mantis.”

He was probably right, but the fact that Gary was being talked down to didn’t make him thrilled to sit there and agree. “Sit on it and twist, Hopkins,” Gary muttered, not expecting much to come out of it.

Jimmy had enough at this point. “Yeah, you’d like if I did, wouldn’t you?” he sneered, before storming out of Gary’s room and disappearing down the hallway. Gary huffed, knowing that even if Jimmy had stuck around to listen to what he said, he wouldn’t think of anything good to say back.

Gary sat on his bed, more irritated at the fact that Jimmy didn’t even shut the door after he left. What an asshole.

He decided it was time to get up anyway. He was in terrible need of a shower, and he wanted to get his mind off of Jimmy. Gary stood up, taking his time using the wall to make his way to the door, and eventually got into the shower.

Even after he got out and started to dry himself with a towel, he was still thinking about Jimmy. Gary was mostly scared of what would happen if Jimmy stopped visiting him entirely. Would he die of starvation? He read somewhere that he could go three weeks without eating. Water was different, but he could get that from the bathroom tap. Would he die of loneliness, then? Boredom?

Okay, now he was being dramatic. But he did regret being an asshole. As Gary pulled a new, clean shirt over his head, he knew one thing for sure- he was definitely going to suck up to Jimmy the next time he was around, even if he felt stupid while doing it. The truth was, he missed him too much already. He couldn’t afford to lose him again.


	10. Petey Is Fucking Shady

Jimmy’s visits to Gary’s room stopped completely after their last altercation. Gary was filled with regret for taking him for granted. He found himself staring at the door and praying that someone would come in, if not Jimmy, then maybe Petey. He would even be fine with the nurse visiting every once in a while. Anyone. 

Maybe not anyone. Gary knew he would not be delighted to see Earnest, Algie, or… you know, other… creatures, but he wanted to see Jimmy. 

And why?

Jimmy didn’t hate him the way he used to. Why else would he be bringing Gary food? Of course, he’d stopped, but that was Gary’s fault. He was acting stupid, and it was no wonder Jimmy was fed up with him. He barely ate and expected to get better from just laying around all day. Jimmy had been right, and Gary was too stubborn to admit it at the time. 

No matter how hard Gary stared at the door, nobody ever came. He could’ve tried to follow after Jimmy to apologize when he left that day, but moving around was scary. There was no telling if you’d turn dizzy and fall to the floor, or stop to vomit all over your fresh pajamas. Gary knew that this was a more severe case of the flu than usual. When his father had it a few years back, he could walk around perfectly fine. He only forgot what he was doing sometimes and had to sit down to rest. Why couldn’t Gary do that?

The only visit he had was from Petey. Gary wasn’t sure why Petey was visiting in the first place, but he didn’t care. Company was company.

“Uh, hey Gary,” Petey said uneasily from where he stood. He looked to the dresser, much like Jimmy did when he first visited. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He propped himself up on his pillows, his spirits instantly lifted. Gary was bored, for God’s sake, laying around all day with Jimmy Hopkins on his mind. “I’m fine. I need to talk to you.”

Petey nods and wipes his palms on his khakis, although he hadn’t touched anything. “Yeah, I need to talk to you too. You first, though.”

He nodded. “Okay, so, I need an answer to this. Jimmy came into my room about a week ago and started to bring me food. Why would he do that? Do you think he was trying to poison me?” Gary did eat some of the things Jimmy brought him, and although it wasn’t enough to kill him, he knew Jimmy was too smart to do something like that. If he wanted to kill him, he could’ve done it at the bell tower, or when he first got out of Happy Volts… there was something else going on with him.

“Oh… um… what?” Petey started, giving Gary an odd look. “He brought you food?”

“Yeah. It’s weird, don’t you think? Unless he was doing it to keep an eye on me.”

Petey still looked uneasy. “I didn’t know he was doing that for you… well, anyway… um…” he murmured, his eyes on the hardwood floor. “I have to go now. Nice talking to you, Gary.” 

Gary blinked. He didn’t want Petey to leave so soon. “Okay, but I thought you had something else to tell me.” Petey had come in at such a random time, he thought it would have something to do with Jimmy… so why did he want to leave all of a sudden?

“I have to go,” he repeated. “Um, now. Bye.” Petey left the room, and Gary rested his head on the wall behind him. He was, once again, alone. 

And he forgot to ask Petey if he could speak to Jimmy again. Go fucking figure.


	11. Petey Is Still Shady

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kanye 2020
> 
> if this chapter looks weird i put it in rich text so leave me alone

“Why didn’t you tell me that Gary was sick? And you were  _ taking care  _ of him?”

Jimmy looked away from Russell and over at Petey. “Jeez, mind talking a little louder?” he snapped, before getting himself together. “Okay, listen Petey, I thought you already knew.”

Russell looked confused, but he didn’t say anything. 

“Well, I didn’t.” Petey paused. “Why did you tell me to tell him that you were willing to cut a deal with him if you could’ve told him yourself? He said that you brought him food and everything. I didn’t tell him about the deal because I wanted to know what he was talking about. I thought he was lying.”

Jimmy shakes his head. “I didn’t want him to  _ die,  _ Pete.”

“Why not? You want him out of Bullworth, isn’t that the same thing?”

Jimmy stared at Petey for a long time. Wasn’t Petey supposed to be the humane one? Why was he wanting Gary dead all of a sudden?

“Jimmy care about Gary,” Russell murmured to himself, before smiling. He thought he understood, but the situation was way more complicated than that.

“Yeah, Russ. You’re right,” Jimmy said. He stuck his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans and inhaled. “Maybe we could use him. And, uh… he hasn’t done much harm this time around. He ratted me out for sneaking into town one night, but that was all. Maybe we could use him.” Jimmy wasn’t sure how exactly they could  _ use  _ Gary, but if they got him on their side…

“Are you hearing yourself? He tried to kill you not three months ago. He used you to do all of his grudge work just so he could throw you away.” Petey looked frantic, as if they needed to end their argument soon.

Jimmy looked away and shook his head. The trees swayed in the light spring breeze. Jimmy found himself clouded with his own emotions- Petey was right. Gary manipulated him, but he wasn’t sure he belonged back in Happy Volts, and not just because he had the flu. There was something about Gary that made Jimmy want to be around him, even if he was an asshole… 

Was he just stupid? Being manipulated again? Gary hadn’t done much in the way of manipulation this time. In fact, he pushed Jimmy away. 

“I don’t know, Petey. I don’t know. But killing him is not the same as throwing him in Happy Volts. You sound insane.”

“Russell talk to Gary?”

Jimmy turned to face Russell and he shook his head vigorously. He had to keep Russell away from Gary at all costs. “No, I don’t think it’s a good idea. He has the flu, and you might catch it. You should stay safe.”

“Ah.” Russell nodded and smiled. “Russell healthy.”

“Mhm,” he muttered, casting one last look at Petey before turning and walking in the direction of town. Jimmy just needed to escape for a while, away from all of these thoughts about Gary and Petey and fucking Happy Volts. The truth was, he didn’t know what was best. Maybe he should reach out to Gary, or try to give him a second chance.

He had an easy time getting Gary off of his mind, only because he had Zoe to distract him.


	12. Gary's Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yoinks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sick. dont know if its the coronavirus because my mom doesnt want to test me. my internet is also being a total fucking slut so if i dont update those are my reasons
> 
> if i sound like an angry little bitch its because i am

It wasn’t long before Gary got up and started going to class. He had been isolated for nearly two weeks, so it was more than about time. His life resumed as usual, with only normal symptoms following him around like a common cold. 

Or maybe his life wasn’t as usual. But that was what Jimmy assumed, and as he expected, Gary got along perfectly fine without his help. He didn’t need him, unless Jimmy leaving was a wake-up call to Gary that he needed to start taking care of himself. Either way, Jimmy had tried helping him, and Gary refused. That’s how it ended.

Still, Jimmy felt uneasy, not knowing what would happen next. 

Gary should’ve been grateful for his help and stopped plotting against him, but Jimmy wasn’t sure what Gary would do. He wanted to talk to him again, but he couldn’t think of a good way to catch him. It needed to be private- nobody needed to hear them, especially not Petey. There were already rumors going around the school- not about Jimmy taking care of Gary while he had the flu, although Jimmy was surprised they didn’t catch onto it- but about what they were going to do to each other. What was happening next. Personally, Jimmy had no plan to put Gary back in Happy Volts, even if it was against Petey’s logic (and his own). What was Gary planning for him? Well, rumors spread that Gary wanted to fight him again, but with Gary’s sudden disappearance, that died down quickly. After he got the flu, people started saying Gary was dead. Nobody bothered to ask Jimmy, and nobody bothered to go inside of his dorm. If they had done either of those things, it would be easy to find out the truth. It wasn’t like there was a lock on Gary’s door or anything, and he was harmless when he couldn’t even stand up straight.

Gary had gotten better, though, and Jimmy wanted to make a truce with him. A treaty. Whatever the hell you call it. He could never be one-hundred percent sure Gary would stick to it, but he knew it would ease his mind to at least ask Gary if he was interested. If Gary agreed, great! They had a truce. If Gary didn’t agree, he would know something was coming his way, and he would be prepared. At least he hoped he would be prepared. For all Jimmy knew, he had a real whopper coming.

But the problem was, Gary was out in his classes all day. Jimmy would rather get shot in the head then step foot in a classroom, so he decided it would be best to wait for Gary to get back from his classes. He passed time during school hours doing things in town, and once school was out of session, he sat in his dorm room and waited for footsteps. There were some from passing students, but Jimmy could see through the crack in his door. It wasn’t like he needed to see, most of the people that passed were talking to each other, but none of the voices belonged to Gary. 

Jimmy stood up once the voices and footsteps died down. It was possible Gary was already inside of his bedroom, but that meant he left his last period early. He decided to check anyway, and found Gary’s bedroom empty. He hadn’t got rid of the dirty tissues, though- yuck- and the pill bottles sat on his dresser scattered amongst the tissues, undisturbed. Jimmy took a few steps further. He knew he could get in trouble being in someone else’s room without their permission, but nobody was going to rat except Gary. If Gary came back and caught him, Jimmy knew he could fix it. He would talk about the treaty, and make up an excuse.

He stood in front of the dresser and read the pill bottles, everything from the pill name, to the doctor, to the expiration date. Gary J. Smith. Most of the doctors’ names were Dr. McRae, the school nurse, but there was another doctor. Jimmy figured they were from Happy Volts. Dr. Scheumer, whoever that was. There were about ten pill bottles in total, and that was slightly concerning to Jimmy, but it made sense. Not only did he need mental help, he had the damn flu.

The medicine that the school nurse prescribed him accounted for half of the bottles. Jimmy wasn’t sure what most of the medicines were, anyway, but he could read the directions. The bottle of ondansetron, which was directed to be taken as needed for nausea, was almost empty. Jimmy moved on. Other flu medicines, Jimmy assumed, were benzonatate, prednisone, azithromycin, and oseltamivir phosphate. He wasn’t sure why he needed to read them, but he was doing it anyway. Standing around in Gary’s room with the door wide open was risky, but he didn’t care. He was interested.

Medicine from the Dr. Scheumer person had more refills. One that Jimmy could identify was Ambien, or zolpidem, for a fancier name. Jimmy pocketed the Ambien and moved on. He knew Gary wasn’t taking them, because the bottle was filled to the top and almost passed its expiration date. The flu wore Gary out enough, even if he was getting better.

The other ones were sertraline, thioridazine, vortioxetine, and methylphenidate. Was the last one actual meth? Jimmy didn’t have a clue, but if Gary was on meth this whole time… jeez. He left the probably meth alone and decided it would be a good time to leave, unless he wanted Gary or someone else to catch him. It was a wonder nobody asked what he was doing in there, since he’d left the door wide open like an idiot.

He didn’t want to leave, though. He wanted to keep looking.

Jimmy closed the door and returned to the dresser, hoping Gary was having a very, very long conversation with a teacher or principal. He wanted to talk to him too, about, well, the truce, but he didn’t want to be caught in his room. That could wait, anyway. He opened a few dresser drawers and found all of them were empty. Did Gary even have clothes?

He opened the closet and found a few clean uniforms hanging on the rack, and clothes Gary had worn while he had the flu- presumably clean- and that was it. Gary didn’t even have, like… actual possessions? 

Shutting the closet, he turned to Gary’s unmade bed. Aside from the dresser and the closet, there was nowhere else to search. If Gary was planning something, well, he wasn’t writing it down anywhere. That was for sure. Jimmy could always search Gary’s bed, but he didn’t want the flu…

Screw it. Jimmy didn’t care about the flu. He felt the pillowcases first, and then tore off the sheets- nothing. Nothing hiding under the blanket, either. He put the sheets back on and left the blanket messy as it had been before he came inside, and he ducked down, searching under the mattress. 

There was nothing.

Jimmy groaned and punched the hardwood floor beneath him before standing up. The only other place he could think of was the bathroom, and that was unlikely. But he was already so far, why should he stop just underneath the bed?

He went into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. Gary definitely didn’t keep medicine in there. There were only a few tubes of toothpaste, cologne, deodorant, mouthwash, and a comb. A toothbrush laid on the sink underneath the medicine cabinet. 

Uninterested, Jimmy closed the cabinet and looked into Gary’s shower. Just shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. He turned the bathroom light off and stood in the middle of Gary’s room.

Gary’s room was so… empty. That was expected, only being in school for a few weeks after his long stay in Happy Volts, but… it didn’t feel right. Maybe Gary had a hiding spot where he kept everything.

That didn’t make sense either. What would he have to hide? He was prescribed a ton of drugs, so he didn’t need to hide anything he took… weapons, maybe? 

Jimmy knew the truth, though. Gary didn’t have a hiding space, and there nothing he needed to hide. It was because Gary didn’t have anything. Not just material things, but he didn’t have friends, either. Who did Gary talk to besides him and Petey? Gary had no other friends, no meaningful relationships, and definitely not a girlfriend.

He was very open about his problems with his parents, too. Gary didn’t even have a family to rely on. 

Jimmy thought back to his own mother. Sure, she had her problems- bad taste in men, trashy cheetah print clothes, and bad parenting skills… but she loved him. She loved him, and he loved her just as much. The worst thing anyone could accuse her of was neglect, but raising a child as a single mother was hard. Jimmy didn’t know from experience, but he could imagine. 

Jimmy had people who cared about him, and he was more aware of this now than he had ever been before. He had a mother, friends, plenty of girls (and guys) that liked him… plus, the entire school. They looked up to him. He talked to Petey, Russell, and Zoe on almost a daily basis, and sometimes Pinky, Mandy, Beatrice, Earnest, Algie, Lola, Bucky…

Okay, a lot of people. And Gary didn’t have a single friend, as far as he knew… the closest thing to a friend would be Petey, and even that was fake. Jimmy told Petey to act like an ally, which he now realized was a total dick move.

Assuming Gary wouldn’t be back to the dorms tonight, Jimmy left Gary’s room and stepped into his own. Nobody had seen him, but even if someone had, he wouldn’t have cared. 

Whenever he got to speak to Gary next, he knew he was going to be nicer to him than he had before. No matter how bad of a person Gary was, Jimmy wanted to see if he would redeem himself if he was at least given a chance.

If not, well… Jimmy would go with the flow and see what came next.


	13. Paranoid

When Gary came back to the dorms, it was so dark that he almost didn't notice that Jimmy was standing in front of him.

He stood below the stairs, not daring to take another step forward. No, not until he knew what Jimmy's game was. Did he want a fight? It was the perfect time and place for a fight; nobody was around to see them, and Jimmy usually didn't need many people to gang up on his victims. Gary had seen it himself. Jimmy almost always went solo. But Gary knew what those hands could do, and he didn’t want a fight. He could die.

"Waiting on someone special?" Gary spoke. He knew it was supposed to be spring, but the wind was blowing, and it was fucking freezing. He shoved his hands in his pockets and wondered how Jimmy wasn't shivering from waiting outside. He had been gone for a long time, doing makeup work for teachers, explaining things to Crabblesnitch...

"No. Just you," he snapped back. Before Gary could think of something to say, he smiled and walked down the stairs. "Just kidding. Anyway, we need to talk, and I don't want to get caught by Mr. Hattrick. You wanna go somewhere else?"

Jimmy was playing a dangerous game. Trying to lead him somewhere, out of school grounds, into town, maybe… to kill him, or at least give him a good beating. But he did want to know what Jimmy needed to talk about. "I'm not stupid," he spat. "I know you want to hurt me. Your chance to kill me is already gone, friend." He pushed past Jimmy and started to walk up the stairs, but Jimmy only followed him.

"I'm not going to kill you, Gary. We can go somewhere public if that's what you want. I just don't want people to overhear us in the dorms." He put a hand on Gary's shoulder in an attempt to stop him. It worked. "Seriously. I won't hurt you."

Jimmy was acting like him and Gary were old friends, and while that was partially true, Gary knew that he wasn't up to anything good. "What are you going to do if I don't agree to go with you? Hm?" Gary asked, more out of curiosity than anything else, even if the tone in his voice didn't sound like it. "This is how almost every girl gets raped and murdered. I thought you were smarter than this, Jimmy. What about the walk to town? What about the walk back to school after we're finished talking?"

Jimmy frowned and released his grip on Gary. "You're being paranoid."

He rolled his eyes and reached for the doorknob. Jimmy moved to stand in front of him. "Really, Gary. You… okay, you want to stay on campus? Let's go into the abandoned bus. Or to the library. She locks it after 9:30, but I have a key." 

This offer was tempting, but Gary wasn't in a rush to agree to anything. "Give me your phone, then."

"What?"

"Give me your phone."

Jimmy stood there and narrowed his eyes at Gary. "What do you need my phone for?"

"So I can call the police if you try anything. You know, if you're really serious that you won't hurt me, it shouldn't be a problem. Like you said." 

He watched Jimmy silently as he tried to think the situation over, and he raised his eyebrows. "Okay. Now I know," Gary mumbles, opening the door and stepping inside.

"Wait, wait," Jimmy says, grabbing Gary by the bicep and pulling him back outside. He reached into his back pocket for his phone. "Here," he said, holding it out in his hand.

Gary looked him in the eye and took the phone, shutting the door behind him. "Passcode?"

Jimmy huffed. "You don't need it, Gary."

Gary tilted his head. "Oh, yes I do, Jimmy boy. If I'm going to try and call the police when you start any funny business. But if you don't want to give it to me, I guess we could just go back into the dorm, you know, where we're supposed to be right now." He holds the phone back out to Jimmy, the plastic case feeling foreign to him. When was the last time he held his own cell phone in his hands? He couldn't remember. His father had taken it a long time before he went into Happy Volts… he wasn't even sure if he remembered how to use a phone.

"Fine. But if you run off, I will tackle you. It's 042115."

Gary typed in the passcode and was surprised that Jimmy hadn't given him a fake one. "What's that?"

"My cat's birthday. Now can we go? We need to talk and I don't want to be in detention with you again." Jimmy grabbed his arm again and tugged him forward, making his way down the stairs. While Jimmy wasn't paying attention, Gary opened Jimmy's messages and scrolled through them. 

"So you and Zoe broke up?" Gary said smugly, scrolling further and further into their text messages. "Ohh, but you're still having sex. What a dog, Jim." 

Jimmy turned around to look at him. "Fuck you, Gary." He looked at the screen briefly, before starting to walk again. "You can look through all my shit, but don't send anything to anyone or I really will beat your ass. You think I have something to hide?"

"Maybe you do. We'll find out, won't we?" he said as he kept walking, leaving Zoe's messages and opening someone else's. This was Petey's contact, and surprisingly the two didn't talk much. All of their texts were just asking to meet up somewhere, mostly Petey’s room.

Jimmy didn't look back at him again until they got to the library. He pulled a keyring out from his pocket and searched through them, picking one and using it to unlock the door.

Maybe Jimmy did just want to talk, after all. He trusted Gary with his phone, and was willing to break into the library with him…

Gary was now wondering if Jimmy was being honest. If he had something to hide or something up his sleeve, he wouldn’t be so willing.


	14. Damn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING this chapter is going to be a fucking whopper
> 
> im leaving my home today. might not update in a while. going to see an old friend

They found their way through the bookshelves and went up the stairs, settling in a corner full of couches and beanbags. Jimmy himself had never been in the library before to study, but he did favors for the nerds often. It was nice how quiet the library was- when there wasn’t a group of obnoxious boys playing Gremlins and Grottos in the corner somewhere.

He sunk into a green beanbag and reached up to turn a floor lamp on, focusing on Gary and his movements. Gary was still scrolling through his text messages like a nosy son of a bitch. Did he think there would really be anything about him in those conversations, or was he doing it purely to annoy him? Jimmy didn’t think he was interested in his and Zoe’s stupid love life, but with Gary, he might be surprised.

“Okay, Gary. Sit down. We need to talk.”

Gary sat down on a leather couch near Jimmy, but not too close. Jimmy could see that he had moved on from his text messages to Snapchat, and he’d been going through his conversation with Lola. Not much substance came out of that girl’s mouth. What was Gary expecting to see? “Are you going to go through my phone all night, or are we gonna do this?”

Sighing, Gary turned Jimmy’s phone off and set it on the table in front of him, face down. “What did you want?”

“I want a truce. If you don’t do anything to me, I won’t do anything to you. Like I said after detention.”

Gary pulled his legs up onto the couch and narrowed his eyes at Jimmy. “Why would you want that? Don’t you want to send me back to that asylum? You know… where you think I belong?” he said sharply, but Jimmy could tell that he was putting a wall up, and he couldn’t blame him.

Jimmy wasn’t sure if he belonged in Happy Volts at all. Gary had… problems, and it wasn’t like he didn’t know that himself. When they met, he even admitted to struggling with ADD. But there was more to it. “No. I don’t want to put you back in Happy Volts,” he admitted. “The school year is about to end, okay? I think we should leave each other alone.” He hoped Gary would work with him.

“Nope,” Gary said, scooting closer to the arm of the couch. Closer to Jimmy. “I don’t trust you. You just want me to have my guard down, right? Well, it doesn’t work that way.”

He inhaled and sunk further into the beanbag. Yes, of course, Gary was going to be difficult. Jimmy expected this, but he already wanted to give up.

He couldn’t. He needed to give Gary a second chance.

“Gary. What you did to me was horrible, but I’m willing to move on from that, okay? I’m willing to call a truce and give you a second chance. If you’ll agree to it. If not, then…” he trailed off, trying to think of something that would scare Gary. “You’ll get whatever’s coming to you.”

Gary stood up from the couch and walked past Jimmy, sitting down in the beanbag next to him. Why Gary was moving around so much, Jimmy wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the ADD, or maybe he was scared. Maybe he was just trying to confuse him. “Why are you giving me a second chance?” he asked genuinely after he sat down.

“I just want to see if… things will be better this time, that’s all, Gary. I promise. We can swear by blood, spit, pinkies, whatever. I just want this thing to be over.”

“No.” Gary shifted again on his beanbag, now on his side, facing Jimmy. Jimmy moved to face him too. “It’s just because you feel bad for me, right? Jacked up on drugs? No friends?” he questioned, starting to smile. “Nothing escapes my notice, Jimmy. But as you might remember me saying, I don’t need friends.” 

Jimmy felt hopeless. “Gary, please. We don’t have to be friends, if that’s how it’s going to be. I just want a truce.” He glared at him. “And no, before you ask, I’m not scared of you or whatever you’re planning. I just don’t want to do anything to you in retaliation.”

Gary’s facial expression softened as he considered Jimmy’s words. “How do I know you won’t do anything… you know, if I agree to the truce.” 

“You won’t,” he said. “You’ll just have to trust me. And I’ll have to trust you. That’s how it works.”

He went eerily silent, staring at Jimmy in deep consideration. Jimmy stared back, wondering what his next move would be. There was no way Gary was taking the truce, he enjoyed pissing Jimmy off, right? But giving him the option… it made Jimmy feel better, in a way. It was better than doing nothing at all and wondering what would’ve happened if he had actually sat down to talk to him.

“I’m not weak, Jimmy.”

Jimmy stares at him, wondering what kind of reaction that was. “I never said that.”

He noticed that Gary had started peeling on the skin of his nails at some point. “I’m not,” he repeats through gritted teeth. Jimmy reaches out and grabs his hands, pulling them apart from each other.

“Stop doing that, okay? You have nothing to worry about. I keep my word. You know I keep my word.”

Gary started to glare at him, and he had the feeling it was because he touched him. What else was he supposed to do? He felt Gary’s hands closing around his own, it was like he was squeezing him. Hard. It hurt, but not bad enough that he needed to pull away.

“I don’t want to go back there,” Gary said darkly.

Jimmy suddenly realized that Gary was scared. “I’m not going to send you back there, I promise. I don’t have any reason to.” He suddenly started to wonder what Happy Volts was like. What did Gary do while he was locked in an asylum for two months? What did he think about? Did Gary think about him? What if Gary thought that it was Jimmy’s fault he ended up in there?

That wasn’t true at all. It was the school that sent him off. Jimmy would’ve chosen jail, back then.

He wouldn’t do that now.

The atmosphere surrounding them was almost suffocating. And painful. Gary was staring at him, squeezing his hands, his nails digging into the skin on his knuckles. It was obvious that something had gone wrong, but Jimmy wasn’t sure if it was his fault or not, and he didn’t know how to fix it. 

Gary wasn’t speaking, at all. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at Jimmy anymore. His eyes had traveled down to Jimmy’s legs, his worn out jeans. He felt like he needed to say something. “Tell me what it was like in Happy Volts.” Jimmy wasn’t sure reliving those two months would be a helpful experience for Gary, but he was curious anyway, and maybe it would help him understand what life was like for Gary. Then again, maybe not.

“It was shit, Jimmy.” He responded quickly, the answer not needing much thought. “It was shit. They made me take pills, but they made me feel worse. It was like being roofied. But all day.” He was making eye contact with Jimmy now, and Jimmy was glad. A first step.

“Oh,” Jimmy said. He didn’t have time to say much else before Gary spoke again.

“I stopped taking them. The sleeping pills, the Zoloft… I only take ADD medicine now. And they don’t work.” His grip on Jimmy’s hands had loosened, but he didn’t break free to start picking on his skin again. “The orderlies treated you like shit. They lost all of the things I had when I was brought in, too. I never got them back. They made you wear scrubs for the entire time, and they would only replace them when they started to rip in the crotch. You couldn’t even have underwear.” Jimmy wasn’t sure if Gary was lying now, because that seemed pretty stupid. But it was a mental institution, after all. “They had visitation every night. Nobody ever came to visit me.” 

Jimmy felt his stomach drop. Out of all of the things Gary had told him, that hit him the hardest. His parents didn’t visit him?

He could imagine himself in Happy Volts, being miserable, sure, but he knew his mom would at least make the time to see him. She might bring along her current boyfriend, and she might not stay the entire time, but Jimmy at least knew she would come to see him now and then. Granted she wasn’t on a year-long honeymoon. 

“I’m sorry, Gary. I would’ve visited if I knew.”

Gary let go of Jimmy’s hands and nodded, once again starting to pick on his cuticles. Jimmy wrestled his hands apart and held them again. This was the only way he could stop him.

“We only got one phone call a day. I would call my dad but he would never answer. Sometimes my mom would,” he said with uncertainty, looking around the library as if someone would be listening to them. “But I didn’t want to talk to her. So I’d hang up.”

Jimmy stared at him, again out of words.

The library fell silent, and Jimmy felt like he should ask about Gary’s parents. So much was out and in the open already. What was the harm? 

He suddenly missed his mom more than he had ever before. Even when she left him with his grandparents for a while, he never missed her as badly as he did now. If Gary’s parents were absent for so long, did he feel the same way? Worse? Jimmy felt an overwhelming urge to hug Gary, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.

“Why do you like your dad better than your mom?”

“I don’t. I don’t like him,” Gary said honestly. 

“Why not?”

Gary looked at Jimmy as if he were stupid for not having the same childhood as him. “Because he’s a pussy.”

Jimmy wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. “Okay, and why don’t you like your mom?”

He paused, as if he were about to give Jimmy an answer. He didn’t. “Take a wild guess.”

“Did…” Jimmy said, his throat suddenly dry. “Did she hit you? Was she an alcoholic? 

“No.” Gary let go of Jimmy’s hands again, but Jimmy grabbed them quickly. He knew what came next. “Worse.”

Not only could Jimmy hear Gary’s breathing quicken, he could feel it. They were so close to each other. He didn’t plan it out this way in his head. They’d be in town right now, Gary would’ve taken the truce… but wasn’t this better? This was better. Gary was opening up.

But Jimmy knew the one thing that was worse than physical abuse. He didn’t know what to say, and he felt as if anything he did or said would be a waste. Nothing would make it better for Gary, or for the tension between them. It settled around them like heavy mist. Jimmy wondered if Gary could feel it too.

“She touched me, Jimmy. And she let her friends pay her to touch me. And my dad knew. And he didn’t say anything.” He stopped speaking for a moment, and Jimmy could see that he was either angry or embarrassed. His face was red and his breathing grew heavy, and Jimmy still found himself clueless as to what to say or do. “He didn’t say anything to the police. Or to her. Or to me. And when I told her I wanted it to stop, she would blame me. She would say we needed money. She said my dad’s job didn’t pay enough. I thought it was normal.” Gary’s hands had started to shake. “I thought it was fucking normal, Jimmy. Whenever I see the doctors, they can never fucking figure it out. They don’t know what’s wrong with me. But I do. My mom does. And my dad does.” Jimmy feels suddenly guilty, as if he should’ve known, as if he should be doing something right now. But he’s frozen, and he can’t say or do anything. He knows he can’t. “But nobody says anything. And you won’t, either. You’re not going to, because if something happens, I’ll know it’s you. And I’ll find you, and I will fucking kill you. Because you’re the only other person I’ve told. You got it, Jimmy? I’ll take your fucking truce. I will. But I’m not going back to Happy Volts.”

Gary’s hands stopped shaking, but neither of them let go. Jimmy could barely process anything that Gary had said to him, yet Gary was watching him intently, waiting for a response. What reaction did he want? Pity? Indifference? An agreement?

“Gary. Fuck,” Jimmy whispered. He was glad he never gave up on Gary, because if he had, none of this would’ve happened. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I’m sorry. You’ve been through so much shit.” He paused, already sounding stupid. “You didn’t deserve to go through any of that. Nobody does.” 

He smiled and shook his head, sniffling quietly. “You think I don’t already know that?” Gary asked. Tears began to run down his face, and Gary wiped his eyes with the upper sleeve of his shirt. They were still holding hands, so it was an awkward maneuver. 

This was a new situation for Jimmy, since most of the people that had emotional breakdowns in front of him were girls that wanted attention. Not… Gary. 

“Uh, hey… I’m here for you, okay Gary? If you need it?” he offered. Gary nodded and let go of Jimmy’s left hand, using his right sleeve to keep wiping his eyes.

“Yeah,” Gary said, the back of his throat scratchy after he began to cry. “Thanks.” He moved closer to Jimmy and laid his head on Jimmy’s shoulder. Jimmy found this odd, coming from Gary, but he knew Gary needed it. 

“I hope you feel better,” Jimmy said, readjusting his body so he would be comfortable laying there, which meant letting go of Gary’s hand. 

Gary only nodded. He pulled his legs up in front of him in a fetal position, and Jimmy wondered if Gary was actually planning on just staying there. Sleeping in the library. They were going to get caught in the morning, but…

Gary grabbed Jimmy’s left hand and set it in between them. He was stuck here now, and he wasn’t complaining. 

It took Jimmy ages to fall asleep, but Gary was out within the first few minutes. Jimmy smiled, listening to Gary’s soft snoring, feeling his chest rise and fall with every breath. He wondered what time it was, and then remembered that Gary had brought his phone into the library. Gary had it.

But Gary hadn’t taken it when he moved, so it was still on the table. He couldn’t get up now, Gary was all over him.

Jimmy huffed and kicked his shoes off, but he wasn’t angry. Everything that happened went better than he could’ve ever imagined.


	15. Oops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short one

Gary woke up to the sound of two people arguing- not that he remembered falling asleep. There was something uncomfortable and hard underneath his back, but he wasn’t making any attempt to move or figure out what it was.

“Well, who was it?”

A man’s voice. Gary started to piece together that it was Jimmy. Everything came flooding back to him from the night before- Jimmy sneaking into the library with him asking for a truce, some rather emotional… moments... that was right. Gary had made some mistakes last night, but he didn’t have to worry about Jimmy anymore.

Worse than mistakes. He told Jimmy about something that he never shared with anyone else in his life. Gary trusted Jimmy enough not to spread it around, but he wasn’t sure what else would happen. Would Jimmy pretend like nothing happened? Gary hoped so, he didn’t want to talk about it again, or relive it.

He opened his eyes to find Beatrice and Jimmy talking, Beatrice was pulling on her shirt and panicking. Jimmy had one arm underneath him, somehow… and in his other hand, he was holding his phone.

“I don’t know, Jimmy! I told you! I mean, if you started asking around, you could probably find out, bu… oh, oh. Um, hey Gary,” Beatrice said awkwardly, smoothing out her skirt as an anxious tick. She was sitting on the leather couch that Gary was on last night. 

Jimmy was scrolling through some pictures, and Gary could see that they were Snapchat stories. “Oh, hey Gary. You’re awake,” Jimmy greeted, pulling his arm out from underneath him. Gary took this as a sign to sit up.

“Why is she here?” he asked stiffly, his eyes locked on Beatrice.

“Someone took pictures of you two last night. I just… wanted to tell you. It’s… it’s not that bad, you were just sleeping next to each other. Unless you two are, uh… together?” It was clear that Beatrice was nervous, and that was probably for good reason. Gary had his own suspicions about who took the picture, and signs were definitely pointing to her. 

Jimmy groaned and shook his head. “I told you, Beatrice. We’re not like that.”

“Well, you’re with so many people, I don’t… I can’t keep track.”

He sat his phone on his lap and stared at Beatrice. “Who am I with right now? Really, if you think there’s so many people, just name a few.”

“Um…” she said softly, looking to Gary for help.

“Zoe?” Gary shrugged, remembering how he went through Jimmy’s texts. The only time Jimmy brought Gary up in a conversation was with his fucking mom. And it was forever ago, too- when they first met. Jimmy’s mother asked if he made any friends, and Jimmy listed off him and Petey. Gary was disappointed that there was nothing else. He wanted to know how Jimmy really felt about him.

“Whatever, Gary, Zoe and I aren’t even dating anymore. Why don’t the two of you have your own love lives to be invested in?” he said, turning his phone back on. Maybe Jimmy was looking for the person who posted the picture first, but Gary wasn’t sure how far the picture had spread. Surely the whole school has seen it by now. He wasn’t sure what time it was, though...

Beatrice scoffed. “Well, Jimmy, I hope you remember that you were a part of my love life once,” she said angrily, before standing up. “Anyway, good luck, you two. I hope you find who did it.” She headed down the stairs to go study in a different part of the library.

“It was one fucking kiss!” Jimmy shouted back in his own defense, and someone in the area shushed him loudly. “God, whatever.” He looked at Gary. “Girls.”

Gary nodded. Gary didn’t like girls, or boys, for that matter. He thought he liked Petey for a while before Jimmy came into school, but he wasn’t sure if that could be considered a crush. “Someone took a picture of us? What the fuck. That’s stupid, that’s like something that would happen in a movie.” He paused, thinking about Beatrice again. “How do we know it’s not her? She found us, didn’t she?”

Jimmy sighed and laid back onto the beanbag. “Yeah, I know. I don’t know what to do.”

“Let me see the picture.”

Jimmy opened Pinky Gauthier’s post and handed his phone to Gary, defeated. The picture was- plain and simple- Jimmy and Gary lying next to each other, Gary’s head leaning on his shoulder. They were holding hands, and Gary suddenly wished he hadn’t done that before he fell asleep last night.

In the middle of the picture, Pinky had written a caption. “Jimmy Hopkins is NOT GAY!!! Stop sharing this picture around becos he GETS IT UP FOR GIRLS! This is fake and you guys are childish af!”

“Hm. Well, at least Pinky knows you’re not gay,” Gary muttered, handing his phone back to Jimmy. 

Jimmy gave him a look. “You think I’m straight?”

After staring at Jimmy for an uncomfortable amount of time, Gary nodded. 

“I’ve dated guys before,” he said dismissively, standing up and putting his phone in his pocket. “We’re going to find out who took the picture, though. Think it’s the nerds… because, you know. The library. It makes sense.”

“What?”

Jimmy gave Gary a look. “Which part is confusing you?”

“You’re gay?”

“No…?”

“Then you’re straight,” Gary reasoned.

Jimmy sighed.

“Well, um, okay. Whatever.” Gary paused. “Didn’t know that. But okay.”

Gary started to walk down the library stairs, and Jimmy followed him. “Really? Does that change anything… for you? Y’know?” Gary hoped Jimmy was joking.

He rolled his eyes and pushed Jimmy away from him. “You’re disgusting. Guys are disgusting. And girls.”

“Whatever you say, Gary.”


	16. Investigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p

The first step of Jimmy’s “plan” to find out who took the picture was to interrogate the nerds, which didn’t take long, considering they woke up there and had already talked to Beatrice. The nerds were all pretty cool with Jimmy- not so much with Gary- and Jimmy wasn’t sure any of them did it. Of course, there was the question of Beatrice, but they got nothing out of the nerds. They said Beatrice had met with them at the normal time- 7 AM, to play Grottos and Gremlins- and disappeared up the stairs once she discovered the picture on Johnny’s Snapchat.

“But… she’s a girl.”

Jimmy looked up from the paper he was writing on. They were back in the dorms, Jimmy’s dorm to be specific, and he decided the back of his Algebra homework would be perfect for their suspect list. “Okay? What does her being a girl have to do with anything? The fact that she likes me?”

“No, idiot.” Gary took a step forward and put a hand on Jimmy’s back without realizing it, leaning over so he could read the list Jimmy was writing. Jimmy was crouched over the desk, pencil in hand, thinking of the names of the jocks. “She is in the girls’ dorm. All of the other nerds are in the boys’ dorm. They woke up at six thirty, got ready, like they said- and met Beatrice in the middle so they could all walk together. There was no way they would know if she got up early and went to the library.”

Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows. “Yeah. Okay, it makes sense… but how would she know we were in the library to begin with?”

Gary shrugged his shoulders and left Jimmy’s side, walking around his dorm aimlessly. Random papers and other things were strewn about all over, making Jimmy’s dorm seem more homely. More like… him. Gary’s dorm was completely empty aside from the necessities, and he didn’t plan on putting anything new inside anytime soon. They would be leaving for the summer in a month or so, anyway. “How would anybody know we were in there to begin with?”

“Well, in order to know, they’d have to be in the boys’ dorm. Or at least see us break into the library. ‘Cause- think about it. What if someone needed a favor from me in the middle of the night, so they checked my dorm- or yours, who knows- and then went to look for us?”

“Yeah. But the… the library, Jimmy? Come on. They would need to have a key like you. Who else has a key? Start writing staff down. Mrs. Carvin… maybe Hattrick had it out for us.”

Jimmy wrote down Mrs. Carvin and Mr. Hattrick, before pausing and writing down Crabblesnitch and Danvers, too. “Okay, so the earliest picture was on Johnny’s Snapchat at, uh… that would’ve been five? Five AM?”

“I guess so. I need to take a shower,” Gary mumbled, leaving Jimmy’s dorm and walking into his own. Something was off, though, and Gary could tell immediately that someone had been in his room. The covers didn’t look the same way they were before he left Friday morning, and something was wrong with his dresser. His pillows were out of place, too.

Gary stepped closer to his bed and found that someone had moved around his pill bottles. Nothing was missing- aside from those dreadful sleeping pills and maybe a tissue or two. Gary figured they had been knocked onto the floor. He wasn’t going to waste his time looking for them.

He got into the shower and decided he would tell Jimmy once he got out. Gary hadn’t been in his dorm since… well, Friday morning, wasn’t it? Because he was out finishing school work in Mr. Wiggins’ classroom for most of the afternoon, and Jimmy took him to the library after he got out… 

Once he was finished, he turned the shower knob off and dried himself, pulling on a fresh uniform. Was it Johnny? Russell? Johnny didn’t make sense, he was never in the dorms, so how would he know they were gone? Gary couldn’t imagine him in a library, anyway. Russell had no reason to do that to them, and he wasn’t sure Russell had a phone in the first place. His parents would be idiots to get him one- the guy would break it in a matter of minutes. On accident or not.

Gary thought about Petey as he put his deodorant on. Petey could probably help them, though he didn’t want to explain the situation to him in the first place. It was embarrassing. He wasn’t sure if Jimmy was as embarrassed as he was, but… 

Was Jimmy embarrassed? He didn’t seem like it. Only… angry. 

He pulled his socks on and slipped into his shoes, leaving to go talk to Jimmy. No, Jimmy wasn’t embarrassed by him, which was odd. Gary was probably the last person Jimmy wanted to be seen with in the entire school, but if that was the truth, why did he want a truce? Why was he still talking to him instead of figuring out these things by himself? It sure felt like they were friends after Gary’s… confessional last night. 

“Someone’s been in my room, I think it’s whoever took the picture, but nothing’s missing,” Gary said as he stepped back into Jimmy’s room.

Jimmy had nearly everyone’s name written down on the paper, even Petey, Johnny, and Russell. He had Russell’s name crossed out, though, and he didn’t add his own name or Gary’s to the list for obvious reasons. “Damn. Sorry to hear that, Gary. It was me.” 

Gary furrowed his eyebrows and sat on the corner of the bed closest to Jimmy. “Why the fuck were you in my room?”

He shrugged, tearing his eyes away from the paper to make eye contact with Gary. “Well, you know I skipped Friday, and when I came back to the dorm I wanted to make a truce with you. I figured you were in your room, but you weren’t, and then I wondered what kind of pills you were on, and then… yeah.” He didn’t look sorry at all.

“Well, you could’ve just asked, asshole. What did you think I was on? Crack?” It had to be a lie, because Jimmy had messed with the covers… unless that was somebody else’s work.

“You never know… with you. Uh, are you mad at me?”

Gary took a moment to think. He wasn’t sure if he was mad. “Would you be mad if I looked through all of your shit? You know, in your bedroom, not just your phone?”

Jimmy stared at the floor. “Um… well, maybe. Hard to be sure. But I’d let you, because I did it to you. It’s only fair.”

He crossed his arms and let himself fall back onto Jimmy’s bedspread, even if he did think that whatever space Jimmy inhabited had to be disgusting. Gary could only imagine the tons of girls (and apparently guys now??) that had been underneath these blankets with him. Gary wanted to puke. But he could puke and get mad at Jimmy for looking through his room later. He just wanted to know who took the picture.


	17. Yikes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i never know what to title these somofabitches

“Jimmy, this sucks,” Gary complained, setting his head down on Jimmy’s desk. They were, once again, in Jimmy’s dorm, after talking to the greasers. Gary played bad cop and Jimmy good cop, but it was obvious that Gary was starting to lose hope.

It was about 1 PM, and Jimmy thought they were making some good progress. “Really? Come on Gary. Do you want to find out who did this or not?” he asked, standing next to him and leaning down to try and see Gary’s face. His face was hidden by his arms, though. “You tired? If not, we have to keep going. Townies are next.”

Gary groaned and picked his head up again, looking down at a new paper. Jimmy had written down some notes from the greasers, like where they all claimed to be, and who each of the greasers were suspicious of. “The townies aren’t even in this, Jimmy! God, you’re an idiot. How would a fucking townie be able to get into the library? Tell me that. But go ahead, talk to all of them. None of them would know that we were in the library, and none of them would know we were out of the dorms unless they snuck on campus with the sole intent to take a picture of us, which… they wouldn’t even know we were doing anything in the first place.” Gary glared at him. “Unless you told someone, that is.”

He couldn’t believe it. Gary was now accusing him, after everything that happened? “I didn’t even have my phone, Gary! You took it, and you looked through it almost the whole time. And when you weren’t, it was on the library table. I didn’t move a muscle all night, either, so don’t even accuse me of that.” He groaned and plopped down onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Without Gary, this whole thing would be much smoother. He would be making his way into town right now, texting Zoe to gather everyone…

“Uh, hey guys?” someone said from the doorway.

“Get lost, Petey. This is none of your business,” Gary snapped. Jimmy wanted to ditch Gary and fill Petey in on everything that was happening. He wouldn’t cause a fuss about every decision Jimmy made, and he was smart, too.

Petey walked into the room despite what Gary said. “No… I, uh, I know what happened. I want to help.” Jimmy looked away from the ceiling and smiled at Petey. Petey smiled back.

“Screw off, femmeboy.”

“Gary, really? He’s volunteering to help. Come on, let’s fill him in,” Jimmy piped up, sick of hearing Gary’s complaints.

Gary stood up from Jimmy’s desk and grabbed the papers. “He’s not helping. Come on, James. Let’s talk to the townies, since you’re so stubborn.” He grabbed Jimmy by the wrist and yanked.

Jimmy groaned and got up. “Okay, but Petey’s coming with us.”

“No he’s fucking not, Jimmy. This is our job, so let’s go.”

Jimmy shook his head and followed Gary, giving Petey a sympathetic look. He knew it was Gary’s way or no way at all, and if he did bring Petey along, Gary wouldn’t cooperate. 

-

“So you two are a thing?” Zoe smiled up at the two of them from the bench she was sitting on.

“No, we’re not a thing,” Gary said through gritted teeth, “so get that idea out of your head right now.”

Jimmy sighed, bouncing the pencil that he held loosely between his middle and index finger side to side. “So, just tell us where you were all night… and if you think anyone did it. You know, Edgar… Duncan, Omar, Leon… whoever. I know it’s not likely that it’s any of you, but if someone got kicked out of Bullworth that happens to have a key…”

“Um, I’m just… going to say that, uh, this is hilarious,” she grinned, shaking her head. “No, I don’t think it’s any of them. I don’t know why they would sneak into the library or… how they would even know you two were in there.”

“Well, thanks, Zoe. It was nice talking to you anyway,” Jimmy said, writing the word “nothing” next to her name on the paper. 

“Um, yeah. Nice talking to you too.” She stood up and winked at Gary before leaving, presumably off to the Industrial Park.

Gary made a gagging gesture at her, although Zoe already had her back turned, so she didn’t see it. “Well, this is amazing, James. Are you glad that talking to the townies got us absolutely nowhere?”

Jimmy was writing on the paper, putting checks next to all of the townies' names. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. But we would be feeling really stupid if it turned out to be one of them in the end, wouldn’t we?” Gary shrugged. “Who are we talking to next?”

“Oh, I get to choose for once? This is exciting, Jimmy. Hmm, I’m not sure.”

He started walking back to Bullworth as he thought about everyone he might’ve missed. They had the nerds, but Beatrice was still a huge question mark… it wasn’t the “bullies,” because they were loyal, and it’s not like they would be found in a library… but none of the cliques really would, except for the nerds and maybe non-cliques.

That’s right, they hadn’t discussed the non-clique members yet. But Jimmy didn’t know them nearly as well as he knew everyone else, and…

“I’d like to talk to the jocks next,” Gary finally spoke, running to catch up with Jimmy. “Don’t you think that’s a great idea? Or do you have something else in mind, you know, talking to people that don’t even go to our goddamn school?”

Jimmy rolled his eyes, clenching his fist and crumpling up the pieces of paper in his hand. “What’s your problem, Gary? Are things not going your way? I left Petey in the dorms, and might I mention, I’m doing this for both of us. Not just for me.” Jimmy paused, shoving the papers to Gary’s chest. “Do you always need to be in control of every little thing in order to be happy? Is that it? Well, have it your way, and do it your fucking self. I’m tired of this, and I’m tired of you.” He turned back in the direction he was walking and let go of the pencil and papers, leaving Gary there to pick them up. He was getting sick of this whole thing- of Gary, of talking to people, of explaining what they were doing in the library together late at night… arguing with Gary was tiresome.

He paused on the sidewalk, realizing his mistake. Of course Gary was upset, he was being a total asshole to him. 

Jimmy turned around again and walked up to Gary, who was frozen in place, not even bothering to watch the papers as they fluttered around in the wind. “Gary, I’m sorry. Okay? I wasn’t thinking, and I was annoyed, and I took it out on you. I didn’t mean it.” Jimmy bent down to pick up the pencil, but he was sure that the papers were long gone. “Come on, let’s go talk to the jocks.”

Gary shoved him. He almost fell over and cracked his head on the pavement, but caught himself at the last second. “Gary, I-”

“I don’t want to hear it. Fuck you.” Gary started walking in the opposite direction of the school.

Jimmy felt hopeless, but he followed Gary anyway. He wanted to make sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

More importantly, he didn’t want Gary to hate him forever.


	18. A New Suspect

Jimmy followed Gary all the way to the ocean, making sure to not be seen or heard on his way there. Once Gary finally settled down and sat on the ledge of the boat dock, Jimmy stepped onto the wooden planks and started thinking of ways he could comfort Gary after he lashed out at him back in the street. He didn’t want to piss him off even worse.

He looked back at his beach house and wondered if Gary even knew that it belonged to him. Of course, once he graduated it wouldn’t be his anymore, but it was his until someone overthrew him in boxing (which wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.) But he hadn’t told Gary about it, and he wouldn’t know unless someone else told him. 

It didn’t matter.

The wood creaked underneath him as he stepped forward, but Jimmy didn’t care. What was Gary going to do to get away from him, jump into the ocean? Gary didn’t hear anyway, he had his elbows on his knees and his hands gripping his hair. Jimmy felt a twinge of pain in his chest. Guilt.

He sat down next to Gary, yet Gary remained completely still. “Hey. I’m really sorry.”

“Leave me alone, moron,” Gary muttered, pulling his legs up over the dock and moving them closer to his chest. “Isn’t it obvious I don’t want to talk to you?”

Jimmy stared down at the water, watching the waves lap onto the sand. “Gary, please. I don’t want you to be mad at me. If you’ll forgive me, I’ll owe you one, okay? A favor.”

Gary looked over at Jimmy, but didn’t say anything. Jimmy waited patiently for him to speak, but he never did. The silence got deafening, and he decided to break it. “Anything. I promise.”

“Really?” Gary said alarmingly fast. “Anything?”

Jimmy gave him a wary look. “Um, as long as it doesn’t land me in jail. I have my limits.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gary said ominously, before uncurling himself from the fetal position he was in and resting his hands on his lap. 

“Um… okay.” He had a feeling Gary was going to make him do something he really, really didn’t want to do, but he would deal with that when it came up. “So you forgive me?”

Gary stood up from the dock and stared down at him. “Sure, Jimmy boy. I’ll forgive you.” Gary wore a conniving smile that started to make Jimmy regret his promise. “Let’s go.”

Jimmy stood up, unease stirring around in his gut. But he had Gary back, and that was all that mattered for now. 

-

Surprisingly, Jimmy found himself trusting the jocks. They all shared the same story, and nothing was out of place or too detailed. Practice had started early that morning, and the only person the jocks shared suspicions about was Juri, who (according to him) was filling up the water tanks while he was gone. The water tanks were filled. There were no cracks that Jimmy could see, and he wanted to move on. 

Of course, anything that Jimmy wanted to do, there was always an opposite reaction.

Gary.

“It has to be the jocks. The reason their story is so straight is because they orchestrated it themselves!” he said, shaking his head and circling Kirby’s name on the paper. “He looked nervous when we spoke to him. Jimmy, we need to talk to him again.”

He learned his lesson the first time, and now he was going to try a different approach. “Okay, Gary. What if we talk to the preps first, and then go back to Kirby if none of them have anything? But Kirby could’ve been nervous for other reasons… like… maybe he knows who did it, and it’s not the jocks. If all of the jocks were in on it, they would be sweating too. They’re not smart enough to make up a story like that, even combined.”

“Jimmy, you’re underestimating them.” Gary moved closer to him and grabbed him by the forearm. “Plus, you said you’d do anything for me. So let’s talk to Kirby,” he said through gritted teeth, stretching out his words. 

“Fine.”

-

They talked to Kirby again, and as Jimmy expected, he didn’t crack under pressure- because there was nothing to crack. The jocks had nothing to do with this. 

Gary was frustrated that he was wrong, but thankfully he was able to move past it. Even if they had wasted time, Jimmy was happy that he didn’t upset Gary again. 

“Okay. Maybe you were right,” Gary said darkly, staring at the back of Jimmy’s neglected algebra homework with dim hope in his eyes. “The preps and bullies are next.”

Jimmy nodded, watching Gary’s movements closely. He was like a ticking time bomb. “Should we start with Pinky first? I’m good with her.”

“Oh, the inbred princess! Of course you’re good with her, you’ve been in her pants.” Gary glared at him. “She sure had a lot of input about the picture too, didn’t she? Yeah. Let’s talk to her.”

Jimmy inhaled and tried to keep his patience. “Gary, I don’t know what your problem is. Does thinking about me with girls piss you off or something? If it does, I am sorry. Truly,” he said sarcastically. 

“I don’t-” Gary muttered, unable to find words for a moment. “It’s… it’s not the thought of you two, but the… ugh. Nevermind.” He folded the paper in fourths and started walking.

-

After hours and hours of dead ends, Pinky was finally able to give them a lead.

“Yeah,” she muttered, smacking on a wad of bubble gum. “Think it’s Trent.”

Jimmy had never expected this. He didn’t know it would be… Trent. Or any bully, for that matter. “Why… uh, why do you think it’s Trent?” Jimmy used to be in a relationship with Trent before Gary got thrown in the asylum, but they kept it under wraps. 

“Because he thinks, you’re like… totally gay for him. Which, you’re not. You’re not, are you? I mean… you don’t act gay.” She shot a look at Gary, before starting to gnaw on her bubble gum again. “Unless you are. Trent doesn’t act gay either, but like… he talks about you so much it gets annoying.”

“He talks about me?” Jimmy asks, leaning closer to Pinky. “What the hell is he saying?”

Pinky smiles. “He says you two used to be together and a bunch of bullshit like that… he even says you two had sex,” she whispers, before giggling. “Isn’t that crazy? I think he’s delusional, personally.” Her smile faded when she looked at Gary. Gary had been unnervingly silent ever since Trent was brought up. 

“Okay. Thanks, Pinky. We’re going to have a chat with him,” Jimmy smiles, thinking of the things he would do to Trent after he finally came clean. 

“You’re welcome!” Pinky says cheerfully, as Gary and Jimmy leave the front entrance of the Harrington House. They’d met Pinky next to the door, and Jimmy was glad they spoke to her first. It saved a lot of time skipping the other preps.

“It’s not Trent. It’s her.”

Jimmy looked up from the pavement and over at Gary. Why did Gary always have to disagree with him? “Really? Why?”

“Because, you scumbag. She’s pointing us in the exact opposite direction. Away from her. She likes you, and she thinks that sticking up for you now will make her gain your affection later.”

Jimmy agreed with Gary for once. His theory… made too much sense. “How… how, uh… how did you know that?”

“Because I have all of my brain cells?” Gary says condescendingly. 

“Whatever. So we both agree, it’s down to Beatrice, Pinky, or Trent?”

“So… everyone you’ve stuck your dick in.” There it was again. 

Jimmy was getting sick of this. “No, actually. Beatrice and I never had sex. I didn’t fuck Pinky, either,” he admitted, purposefully leaving out Trent to see what Gary would do.

He didn’t say anything back, so Jimmy went on. “Who says that Trent wasn’t the one fucking me? And… you’re leaving out quite a few people.”

Gary let out an exaggerated sigh. “Shut. UP.”

Jimmy grinned and made his way to the parking lot, hoping Trent would be hanging around there. He wanted to finally put all of this shit to an end.

He also finally knew how to get Gary to stop bothering him.


	19. Fuck Nevermind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're moving houses soon. i am so happy. i want to get out of here

“Hey, Trent!” Jimmy yelled from across the parking lot. Gary followed behind him at a distance, glaring at the back of Jimmy’s ugly buzzed head. He couldn’t believe that he was wrapped in Jimmy’s stupid bisexual love triangle, and he wasn’t sure why he was still following Jimmy anyway. He didn’t need to be here and listen to him argue with his ex.

What would happen if he just wandered off? Nothing, of course. He might be bombarded with some questions from people who were too scared to talk to him with Jimmy around, but Jimmy wouldn’t stop him. Not if he didn’t see him leaving.

“Hey, Jimmy! What’s up?”

Trent’s eyes were on Gary now. Gary gave him a dirty look and stared at the side of Jimmy’s head again. Yes, he could leave. But did he want to stick around and see if Trent actually did it?

Jimmy stepped closer to Trent, getting in his face, even if he was way shorter than him. “Nothing much, man. Hey, you like taking pictures, don’t you?” he sneered. Trent backed away from him, glancing at Gary before he spoke.

“No? You’re talking about the one with… you two in it? I didn’t do that, Jim.” He stared down at Jimmy as people started to surround them. Russell was one of them. Gary watched as Jimmy shoved a few people away, one of them being Davis. 

“Beat it! This isn’t any of your business.” He looks at Russell and frowns. “I’ll talk to you later, Russell. I gotta deal with this first, okay?”

Russell doesn’t look convinced, but he nods anyway. The rest of the crowd backs away enough, but not any further away than Gary was to Jimmy. “Okay, Trent, let me explain something to you. I know it was you. I don’t know why you were in the library, or what you have against me… maybe Gary, sure, but… I want to know why you did it. Maybe I won’t beat your ass so hard if you give me a good reason. That sound fair?”

Trent shook his head, backing up even further. “No… it wasn’t me, I swear. I don’t even have a phone.” He started pulling things out before patting his empty pockets down. “See?”

“Yeah, right. I’m not falling for that. Turn around.”

Trent shook his head and turned around, and it was obvious that he didn’t have anything in his back pockets either. He faced Jimmy again. “See? You can check my dorm, too, but it’s not in there.”

Jimmy crossed his arms. “I’m not stupid, Trent. If you didn’t have a phone, then how were you texting me back in November? You just got someone to hold onto it for you.” 

Gary caught Trent giving him a weird look again, so he made a throat-cutting gesture. Maybe that would set Trent straight. “My parents took it because my grades were bad. It’s at their house.” He was frustrated that Jimmy didn’t believe him, so he kept talking. “I’m being serious! You want to ask them? I’ll give you their number.”

“Fine.” Jimmy took his own phone out of his pocket, and Gary could see him open the notes app. Jimmy was seriously going to keep the phone number? “Go ahead. I don’t have a preference for which parent.”

Trent stared at the ground as he gave Jimmy his dad’s phone number. Gary cleared his throat audibly after Trent was finished. “Okay. Trent doesn’t have a phone, so can we go now?”

Jimmy finished typing the numbers and slid his phone in his pocket, ignoring Gary completely. “So, Trent, someone told me that you’ve been talking about me. I want you to stop that shit, okay? It’s fucking weird. When I talk to your parents tonight, and they tell me that they never took your phone away, I will beat your ass. One for the picture, and two for lying to me.” He looked back at Gary and took the hint. “I’ve got more important things to take care of. But you’d better watch out, Trent,” he threatened before joining Gary again. 

“Done with your lovers’ quarrel?” Gary mocked, thinking of who to talk to next.

“Yeah, whatever. It’s not like you could get with anyone even if you tried.”

Gary scoffed at him, but he surprisingly wasn’t angry. “You think being in everyone’s pants is a good thing? That’s how you get gonorrhea… and crabs.” Jimmy was looking at him now. “How much child support do you think you can keep up with before you die of starvation?”

“I thought you didn’t like talking about my love life, Gary. You know condoms exist, right?”

He grinned at Jimmy. “Duh. Isn’t that how you were born, broken condom?”

Jimmy couldn’t help but snicker. He nudged Gary in the arm and looked back down at the pavement as they walked, the sun starting to set behind them. The air was humid and sticky, but Gary was glad it wasn’t cold like the night before. “Who’s next?”

“Don’t know. We could take a break… we don’t have any other leads, do we?”

Gary sighed. “Guess not,” he mumbled, but he was secretly glad to be heading back to the dorms. After a long day of walking around and talking to useless people, he wanted to lay down and take a nap.


	20. A New Suspect (Again???)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have so many regrets on wriitng this
> 
> also forgot to update for 2 days straight you're damn welcome
> 
> lost motivation, there might not be a sequel for a while bc what the hell am i doing

“Uh, hey, you guys! Did… did you find out who it was yet?”

Petey stood next to the arm of the couch, the side Jimmy was sitting on. “No, actually. Why are you so interested, Petey? Is it because it was you?”

Petey gulped and shook his head. “No! No, it wasn’t me, I just… I was just wondering if you found the person yet. And, um… why you two were there in the first place.” He looked terrified asking this question, and Jimmy felt bad for him. He didn’t deserve to be intimidated by Gary.

“Leave it alone, Petey!” Gary spoke up from the other side of the couch. Jimmy and Gary were currently at a loss with finding out who took the picture, and they decided to take a break by watching whatever mind-numbing shows happened to be on. “Or… are you just jealous, because you wanted to be there with us? If you like Jimmy, well then…” he grinned, moving closer to Jimmy on the couch so he could get in Pete’s face. “Go ahead. I don’t want him.”

“Aw, would you shut up already?” Jimmy groaned, pushing Gary away so he could see the TV. The only thing that Jimmy could find that was halfway decent happened to be South Park. Gary complained at first, saying that it was a “kid’s show,” but Jimmy could hear muffled snickering from Gary’s end of the couch every now and then. That’s how he knew Gary had changed his mind. Jimmy stood up. “I know it’s only 10, but I’m going to bed. You guys suck.”

“No!” Petey protested. He inhaled and tilted his head back before speaking again. “I mean, uh… sleep well. But can I help you guys tomorrow?”

“Talk to Gary.” He glanced at Gary before pushing past Petey to get to his dorm, knowing that Petey would never convince Gary to let him go along with them. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Gary.”

Petey shook his head and grabbed Jimmy’s arm before he could enter the hallway. “What’s your problem with me? I just want to help. You’re really… going to let him make all of the decisions for you?”

“Yes.” He yanked his forearm out of Petey’s grasp and made it to his bedroom door before someone called for him from the common room. Jimmy groaned and ignored it, grabbing the knob and pushing the door open. 

Jimmy could still hear voices from the common room, but he couldn’t make out the sentences. Then he could.

“Would you stop having a temper tantrum, Petey? It has nothing to do with you!”

He sighed and stepped back into the hallway, deciding that he could put off sleeping for a little bit. Back in the common room, he felt like the father of two kids that couldn’t control themselves. “Petey… guys, c’mon.” Jimmy suddenly didn’t want Petey helping either. It would help, but… he would rather be alone… with Gary? No, that wasn’t it. “Just understand that Gary doesn’t want you helping. It’s nothing personal.”

“No, it’s personal,” Gary mutters, staring up at the ceiling as his head rested on the back of the couch. Jimmy glared at him.

“But I didn’t do anything to you! I don’t understand why you guys want to leave me out of everything!” he whined, shaking his head. “What have I done to you, Jimmy? Huh?” Petey demanded, and Jimmy wondered if everyone was like this. You go past their limit, and they just freak the fuck out.

But something about Petey’s tone was… off.

“Gary? You ready to… um… go… to bed?” Jimmy urged. He wanted to talk to Gary alone without making it obvious to Petey, but he realized he did exactly that. 

Gary stared at Jimmy. “What?” Petey snapped, looking between the two of them. “Together?”

“Yes, together. Come on, Gary.”

Gary stood up and reluctantly followed Jimmy into his dorm room, leaving Petey out in the cold by himself. But Jimmy thought he was onto something. He shut the door once they got inside. “Um, hey Gary.”

He blinked slowly as he stared back at Jimmy. “What? What is it?”

Jimmy leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear. He knew that it wouldn’t matter even if Petey did hear what he was about to say, but he wanted to be safe. “You think Petey just wants to help us so we don’t think it’s him? He says we leave him out of everything.” He pauses. “But this was the only thing, unless he followed us to the library.”

“...I just thought he was being a little shit,” Gary said quietly, looking to the closed door. “You might be right.”

“Yeah. Well, I’ll try to think of how to deal with him, unless you have any ideas.” Jimmy stared at the crack underneath his door. There was no shadow, which suggested that Petey wasn’t even listening to them in the first place. “You have a nice night, Gary.” Jimmy steps away from Gary leaving a clear path to the door, expecting him to leave.

Gary smiled. “Yeah. I will.” He grabbed the doorknob and paused. “Thanks for being nice to me. See you later.” He opened the door and disappeared into his own room. 

He shut the door and undressed, Gary’s words still on his mind. Thanks for being nice to me. 

Jimmy pulled his pajamas on and laid down on his bed, turning his bedside lamp off. He repeated it in his head a million times, the tone of Gary’s voice… he wasn’t even being sarcastic. Thanks for being nice to me.

Had he misjudged Petey and Gary? Was Gary finally going to be… a good person, now that he had this second chance, this truce… and was Petey going to end up being the bad guy here?

Jimmy smiled and flipped over, laying on his stomach. 

Gary was getting better, and Jimmy even found himself looking forward to seeing Gary when he woke up in the morning. 

He wondered why.


	21. Early Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> k finally a cute moment between these motherfuckers

“Hey. I have something to tell you.”

Jimmy was grinning like a maniac, and for the life of him, Gary couldn’t figure out why. 

Both of them had got dressed around the same time that morning and decided to go to breakfast together. Jimmy hadn’t eaten much the day before, and Gary couldn’t remember the last time he consumed anything. It was unhealthy, and he knew that, but school food just sucked, and he wasn’t thrilled to show up at school for three meals every day just to eat something Edna made. But if you managed to get something packaged like yogurt or banana bread, you could be sure that you wouldn’t suffer from Edna’s cooking a few hours later in the boys’ bathroom.

“Oh. Um, okaay… what?” Gary asked, staring down at Jimmy. They were almost in the main building, and Gary could feel people staring at them. Ever since the picture spread, he was no stranger to weird looks and comments from the idiots of Bullworth. When he was with Jimmy, they died down, but Gary hated the stares. If he were as strong as Jimmy, he would deal with them his own way… 

“I never really cared that much about who took the picture. I mean, I’m glad we know it’s Petey now, but-”

“We don’t know it’s Petey,” Gary reminded him. “It could still be anyone.” And what did he mean by he never really cared about who took the picture? Jimmy dragged him all over campus and town yesterday, trying to figure out who it was. 

“Okay, yeah, you’re right.” Jimmy yawned and looked around at the passing students, before returning his attention to Gary. “But… we can agree that it’s probably him, right?”

Gary nodded. “I’ve never seen him that upset before. I know he’s a wuss and he’s always upset, but that was like… toddler shit.”

“Yeah. Anyway,” he said, passing through the doorway. Dr. Watts happened to be holding the door open for someone else, but Jimmy didn’t care. Gary followed behind him. “I didn’t really care if we found out who it was or not. I just… uh.” Jimmy looked at him and smiled. “Nevermind.”

“No,” Gary muttered, punching Jimmy lightly in the arm. “Go on, Jimmy boy. What were you going to say?” he teased, the smile returning to his face.

“It’s gonna sound stupid, but I just… I dunno. I just wanted an excuse to be around you,” he admitted, probably bracing for the fact that he was going to be teased endlessly for it. And Jimmy would be right. 

“Oh, really? You’re adorable, Jimmy. You know that?” he said sarcastically, poking him in the side. They were in the foyer now, walking amongst the late stragglers heading to breakfast like them.

“Whatever, Gary. I just wanted to tell you.” Jimmy stared at the people ahead of them, which Gary was grateful for. Blood flushed his cheeks, and Jimmy wasn’t able to see it.

By the time they made it into the cafeteria and into the breakfast line, Gary’s blush was mostly gone. Jimmy was oblivious, and Gary relieved. But what Jimmy had told him was still on his mind, and he found himself wanting to ask about it. Jimmy just wanted an excuse to be near him? Gary couldn’t imagine that… but it made sense. 

No it didn’t. He peeled off the wrapper on the top of his yogurt and stuck his spoon inside as they walked back into the foyer. There was no way either of them were going to sit down inside of the cafeteria with the rest of the zoo animals, even if they could be entertaining. “Uh, hey. You weren’t joking about what you said?” He swirled his spoon around, watching the strawberry chunks come to the top. Gary didn’t even like yogurt, it was disgusting. Why did he get it again?

“No, I wasn’t joking.” Jimmy had a package of PopTarts in his hand, and he paused to open the foil with his teeth. “I mean, at first I did want to find out. Because it was creepy. But after we talked to the nerds, I just… I stopped caring, but I didn’t want to tell you that, because we wouldn’t have to look anymore. We’d probably go back to never talking. So I just pretended that I did.” They were out of the foyer and back outside.

Gary smiled and ate some of the yogurt, trying not to focus on the taste or the texture. No wonder Jimmy had no problem picking up girls, he could actually be sweet sometimes.

His smile faded. No, that was disgusting. Jimmy wasn’t being sweet, he was being gay. 

“Okay. Well, um…” Gary found himself fumbling to find words. He started to smile again, despite how gross he felt on the inside. “What’s your excuse for being around me now?”

Jimmy took his PopTarts out of the foil and crumpled it up, throwing it on the ground. “Damn, I still need one?”

“Yeah. You do.” No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop smiling. And why? He was just talking to Jimmy. Just Jimmy. Nobody important.

“Well, I guess we never actually caught Petey red-handed, did we? That’s my excuse this time.” Jimmy suddenly looked up at him and smiled, and Gary felt almost nauseous. 

Was it nausea? Or something else?

Gary nodded quickly, looking away and shoving another spoonful of yogurt into his mouth before anything else would happen. Once he swallowed it, he still didn’t look back at Jimmy. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. How are we gonna talk to Petey?”

“I don’t know. We could just see what happens?”

“Okay,” Gary said softly as they approached the boys’ dorm again. 

Why was Jimmy making him feel like this? He was almost uneasy, feelings of guilt and disgust stirring around in his stomach like some revolting container of pot roast. He tried his best to push them away for the time being. 

After all, they had Petey to take care of.


	22. ???

“Hey, Petey.” 

Petey looked up from the TV and smiled at Jimmy as he sat down. He was watching the swim team again, which was hilarious because swimming was boring. Jimmy could understand football or basketball, but… swimming? Golf? People really were insane, weren’t they?

“Hey… hey Jimmy. Uh, sorry. I was acting stupid last night.” He held his hands in his lap and sat with decent posture. Pete turned to look at Gary, giving him an awkward smile. Petey was smart for trying to make amends, but it was far too late for that.

Jimmy nodded and leaned back on the couch. “I know you were, Petey. You don’t need to remind me.” He studied Petey’s facial expression and body language, then got an idea. “Hey, Gary was being an asshole and he broke my phone while we were outside. Mind letting me use yours? I need to call Pinky.” He looked at Gary and smiled. “I would ask Gary, you know, but he doesn’t have one.”

“Hey. Shut your trap,” Gary hissed, although he winked at Jimmy while Petey wasn’t paying attention. Jimmy felt like this was going to work- Petey couldn’t tell him no without looking suspicious.

Petey glanced at his beloved swim team once again before speaking. “My… my phone? What do you need to call Pinky for?”

“She… left something of hers in my bedroom.” Jimmy raised his eyebrows when Petey didn’t speak. “You know, her purse. I don’t know where she is, she’s not in the Harrington House. We checked after we went to breakfast.”

“Oh. Oh, right.” Petey shifted his legs squirmishly. “Well, uh… my… my phone died last night. It’s charging.”

“Where is it?” Jimmy smiled encouragingly, trying to catch him in a lie. He could see Gary from the corner of his eye watching him, and he was kind of proud of himself. 

Petey stood up and put his hands in his pockets, possibly to keep them from shaking. “In my dorm room. But… it’s messy in there, and I need to do something first. Okay? So hang on-”

“No, Petey. You can do that afterwards. It’ll be a short call, right Jimmy?” Gary said, blocking Petey from going into the hallway. “Promise?”

“Yeah!” Jimmy said, slapping Petey on the back and stepping past Gary after he moved to let him through. “It’ll be quick. You have nothing to worry about.”

Petey shook his head and pulled his hands back out of his pockets, approaching Gary again in hopes that Gary would let him through. “Guys, I…”

“Petey, relax. It’s not like you have anything to hide.” Jimmy could hear Gary from down the hallway, and he smiled as he pushed Petey’s door open. They worked great together, didn’t they? “Or do you?” Gary went on, leaning forward to get in Petey’s face.

He ducked under Gary’s arm and rushed past him in an effort to catch up with Jimmy. Jimmy was already inside Petey’s dorm and reaching for his phone, which was laying on his bed… connected to a charger, so he wasn’t lying about that…

Gary followed Petey, and soon enough all three of them were inside Petey’s dorm. Jimmy had the phone in his hand, opened on the lock screen. “Hey Petey, mind giving me your password?”

“No! I need to… do something first. Come on, Jimmy. It’s embarrassing…”

“Nope.” Jimmy held it out of his reach, which meant behind him, because Petey was almost the same height as Jimmy. It seemed like everyone except for the younger non-clique girls and Petey were taller than Jimmy. “Just tell me.”

“Yeah Petey. What do you have to hide that’s so embarrassing?” Gary grinned, stepping behind Petey and shoving his hands beneath Petey’s armpits, tickling him with no remorse. Petey broke into a fit of giggles, but shoved Gary away.

Petey was now away from both Jimmy and Gary, on the far right side of the room. “Why are you guys doing this to me?” he muttered, shoving his own hands under his armpits so Gary wouldn’t start again.

“If you come clean now, Petey, and tell us what’s so embarrassing, it won’t be so bad. Come on,” Jimmy urged.

“Okay!” he cried, shaking his head and moving closer to Jimmy. He snatched his phone out of Jimmy’s hands and pressed his thumb to the home screen, unlocking it. “Fine. Call Pinky. Go ahead.” Petey shoved his phone back into Jimmy’s hands.

Jimmy narrowed his eyes and opened the Photos app on Petey’s phone, and to his surprise, the picture wasn’t there. Frustrated, he opened Snapchat and scrolled through his memories. Nothing.

He looked at Gary. “I don’t think he did it.”

Gary crossed his arms and looked at Petey. “What was so embarrassing?”

Petey shakes his head. “Nothing.” He looks at Jimmy, frowning. “You guys thought I took the picture?”

Jimmy nodded, giving his phone back to Petey. “We just wanted to see how you would act. And you… you were nervous, so we assumed…”

“Get out of my room. Both of you guys.” Petey took his phone back and crossed his arms. “I didn’t do it. And I even offered to help you assholes.” He glared at Jimmy and Gary, his face red with anger. “Leave.”

Sullenly, Jimmy and Gary left Petey’s room. They found themselves in Jimmy’s dorm again, and he laid down, his legs dangling off of the edge. “We’re so stupid, Gary.”

“No.” Gary sat down on a nearby chair, the one that was supposed to go to his desk. “You’re stupid, you’re the one that thought it was Petey in the first place. And look what you did. Now he hates us.”

“Yeah, but… if it was him, we would’ve got him good,” Jimmy said sourly, sinking into the unmade bed beneath him. He was glad the mattresses in this place were at least decent. The one at his old house with his mother was as hard as a rock. Jimmy wondered where they would be living when he got out for the summer.

Gary shook his head. “It doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. He could’ve got rid of the picture, dumbass. Or never saved it to begin with.”

Jimmy shrugged. As Gary sat there, watching him with a gloomy look on his face, he wondered where his PopTarts went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm not saying i regret writing this but. what the fuck


	23. Until Next Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't know when part two will come but like... whatever. might come today, maybe tomorrow, maybe a week. i had fun writing this so epic

In the end, Jimmy and Gary never found out who took the picture.

The school year had come to an end, and Jimmy was throwing his dirty sheets and pillowcases into a bag. Jimmy had come to learn that the last day of school wasn’t a “fun day,” like the other schools he got suspended from had. Bullworth’s final day was cleaning day, and while it was stupid, he figured that was appropriate for all of the delinquents like him that attended Bullworth. “Students, please remember to clean out your lockers and your dorms! Collect any extra papers from your teachers, and freshman, take your canvases from Ms. Philips home! Bullworth wishes you a long summer, and a swift return in the fall!”

Jimmy groaned and shook his head. He didn’t want to come back to this school by any means, and he guessed if he wanted to, he could get suspended again and go to whatever school out of Bullworth that Zoe and the other dropouts attended. You know, the dropouts that weren’t twenty-five year old crack dealers. But if he got suspended, that would mean leaving Gary, and Petey, who learned to forgive them, even though their friendship had been rocky in the past month. He would stay for Gary, and that was it. 

He threw his own possessions and clothes into a duffel bag that Mr. Galloway had given him, since he didn’t have a backpack of his own. Jimmy thought about him as he packed, and Ms. Philips… the two of them made Bullworth much more tolerable.

Jimmy heard footsteps behind him, and he turned to see Gary standing on the other side of his bed. He smiled at him and set his bag down. “You done with your room?”

“Yeah,” Gary mumbled, his eyes down on the chestnut hardwood floor. “I got bored.”

He was upset, and it wasn’t hard to tell. Jimmy walked around the bed to meet Gary, and he rested a hand on his shoulder. “Hey… what’s wrong? School’s out, Gary.”

Gary nodded, making eye contact with Jimmy. That was a start. “But I have to go home.”

A pit formed in his stomach, and he nodded, knowing what that meant. “Well, uh… you can come over whenever you want, okay? I know it sucks, but it’s only two and a half months… does she… still do it?” Jimmy asked, lowering his voice as he asked the question. He knew Gary didn’t like talking about it, but he needed to know.

“No,” Gary whispered, his body stiffening. “But I still hate her.”

“I’m sorry, Gary. I would help if I could.”

A painful silence grew in the air around them. They could hear other boys talking in the common room, footsteps shuffling in the room to the left of Jimmy’s… but inside Jimmy’s dorm, the atmosphere was just different. “I’ll miss you,” Gary said quietly.

“I’ll miss you too, Gary.” 

Gary looked at him and smiled. A sad, bittersweet smile. “How will I know where you live?”

“Oh, fuck.” Jimmy looked at the ground. “Yeah. I didn’t think of that.”

“And you won’t even be able to tell me, because I don’t have a phone.”

Jimmy sighed and sat down on the bare mattress. His room had been stripped down of all of its posters, all of the messy clothes on the floor, Jimmy’s possessions… only to be replaced with another boy’s belongings. There was a chance he would get this room again, but he didn’t think so. “Well, if my mom gets here first, I can ask her. Then I can tell you. Will that work?”

“Yeah.”

The loudspeaker in the hallway crackled again, and the lady’s voice came over, loud and clear. “Bucky Pasteur, your ride is here,” she said. Jimmy thought it was Miss Danvers’ voice over the speaker, but he wasn’t sure. 

“I promise, Gary. We’ll find a way to see each other. It might take a while, but I promise it’ll happen, alright?”

Gary nodded, and before Jimmy knew it, Gary leaned closer and threw his arms around him. Jimmy hugged back, resting his chin on Gary’s shoulder.

“Damon West, Pinky Gauthier, Bif Taylor, and Eunice Pound, your ride is here.”

Jimmy hoped he would be called next. He could get the address from his mother and say goodbye to Gary… but of course, he didn’t want to leave. Not yet. He only wanted to leave before Gary.

“Christy Martin, your ride is here,” the woman over the speaker announced.

“Thank you, Jimmy,” Gary said, muffled by the fabric of Jimmy’s shirt. He pulled away and sat up straight again. “It’s been a lot of fun… aside from Happy Volts,” he smiled. “And you beating the shit out of me.”

“Really? That was my favorite part,” he teased. Jimmy smiled back, a sharp feeling growing from the bottom of his stomach to the center of his chest. He didn’t want to leave Gary, not now, not ever. He thought it was surreal how him and Gary could be friends one day, fighting on the bell tower the next, and then… friends again. They both made mistakes, but in the end, everything worked out, didn’t it?

“Mandy Wiles and Gary Smith, your ride is here.”

“Shit,” Gary muttered. “Bye, Jimmy,” he muttered, his voice wavering. He stood up and left Jimmy’s room and picked up his bag, which he’d left in the hallway. Jimmy stood in the doorway and watched Gary, melancholic. 

“Bye, Gary! I’ll see you again, okay? Soon, I hope,” Jimmy said, his head resting on the doorframe. Gary pulled his backpack over one arm and looked at Jimmy, swallowing his spit. 

“Ye-ah.”

Jimmy frowned as Gary started to walk away. “Hey, hey man… don’t cry, okay? It’ll be alright. Even if we don’t see each other, there will always be next year, right? Come on.”

Gary stopped and stared down at Jimmy, giving him one last smile. “Bye.”

“...Bye.”

He started to walk away again, and this time, Jimmy didn’t stop him. He inhaled in an attempt to steady his breathing, but Jimmy soon gave up and went back inside his dorm room to throw away anything he might’ve missed. 

There was nothing. 

“Russell Northrop, Ted Thompson, and Peter Kowalski, your ride is here.”

He laid on his bed and started to cry, despite what he told Gary. Don’t cry, okay? But this was it. He was probably getting in his car right now, and…

Fuck. He didn’t even ask for Gary’s address! Why couldn’t he just ask and visit him later? There were so many things he could’ve said, like, “Let’s meet tomorrow at five where the carnival was,” or “Let’s meet at night in front of Easy Drugs.” Why wasn’t he thinking before Gary left? He could’ve talked about the beach house, for God’s sake.

Jimmy shook his head and wiped his face with his sleeve, listening to the announcements as more kids were called to leave. “Earnest Jones, Beatrice Trudeau, and Tom Gurney, your ride is here.” He thought wildly as he started to cry again, is my mom even back from her full-year fucking honeymoon? Has she forgotten about me?

Am I going to be here forever?

Chances were, yes. He was probably going to be left here for days until his mom got off of her cruise and drove her ass back to Bullworth. Jimmy couldn’t be mad at her. He was a problem child, and it was no wonder his mom wanted to leave the state and get rid of him for a year.

As the announcements kept coming, he laid on his bed for what seemed like hours, going in and out of phases of crying. If anybody else heard him, they didn’t interject. All of his friends were gone at this point- Russell, Petey, Gary, Mandy… he would be lonely this summer. Jimmy knew he could call up any of them except Gary, but he didn’t want to. The only people he thought he would want to talk to were Zoe and Gary, and he would end up only talking to Zoe after all. Maybe they would get back together, maybe not… but he knew he was in for a long fucking summer.

“Trent Northwick, your ride is here.” The lady on the announcements was growing impatient. Maybe she wanted to go home already and get things over with.

Jimmy turned on his side and stared at the wall, hot tears rolling down his face and disappearing onto the mattress. He wondered how many kids pissed themselves while they were sleeping on this bed, and he wondered how long he would be laying there on top of it, waiting for his mother to pick him up. 

“Melvin O’Connor and James Hopkins, your ride is here.”

He jumped off of the mattress as fast as he possibly could and grabbed his bag, running down the hallway and shoving his way through groups of students. His mom was here, he was going home… wherever that was… and he was getting out of Bullworth!

Jimmy made his way to the pick-up area and spotted his mom’s face in her new car. Of course his new step dad was in the driver’s seat, but even that didn’t phase him. He got in the backseat and dropped his bag on the floor, shutting the door as he sat down.

“Oh, Jimmy! You look terrible, are you crying?”

He smiled and wiped his face again, not bothering to touch his seatbelt as his step dad pulled out of the driveway. “Yeah.”

“Why, hon?”

Jimmy pulled his legs up and let his knees rest on the back of his mom’s seat, staring out of the window as Bullworth became smaller and smaller, eventually disappearing entirely. As Jimmy grew closer to his new home, he could only think of one person: Gary. His heart ached, thoughts of Gary filling his mind. The pain in his chest grew worse, and he burst into tears again. Jimmy knew he was being ridiculous, but he couldn’t help it. He missed Gary. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t sure why, it didn’t matter if he would be embarrassed admitting it to anyone else. He was upset. He missed Gary already, and they hadn’t even been apart for an hour.

No matter how hard his mother tried, he couldn’t soothe him. The only thing that made him feel better was the thought of his next year at Bullworth, and he prayed, prayed, that his mother didn’t decide to move again. 

As much as Jimmy came to loathe and despise Bullworth, there was no other place he wanted to be.


End file.
